Reconciliation is costly. It cost Jesus His life to mend our relationship with God. Motivated by love, God took the initiative to reconcile us to Himself through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Now “how much more, having been reconciled shall we be saved through Christ’s life” (Rom. 5:10). God’s initiative to bring us back into relationship with Him proves that our destiny is not determined by chance, but by a merciful and loving God.
Jesus Christ reconciles us in order to present us holy in God’s sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Col 1:22). Therefore, the gospel is God’s action in Christ to make us right with God, not simply by accepting us but by transforming us.
God has now committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19). True reconciliation with another costs us our hoarded craving for vengeance. Pope Paul VI, said: “A love of reconciliation is not weakness or cowardice. It demands courage, nobility, generosity, sometimes heroism, an overcoming of oneself rather than of one’s adversary.”
The Bible addresses the importance of reconciliation. Before we enter the temple to worship God, Christ brings us to a screeching halt with His devastating question: “Does your brother or sister have anything against you?” If the answer is yes, He spins us around and sends us back. “First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” (Matt. 5:24).
In a world of shattered hopes, false promises, war, poverty, and disease, Jesus’ modelling of reconciliation has never been more needed.
Most of us find it easier to believe that we can be restored through Christ to a relationship with God, than we can be reconciled to other people through Christ. The message of reconciliation continues to reach out with hope to a broken world. True reconciliation occurs when godly relationships are formed. Are we living as agents of reconciliation?