Reconciliation is Not Just for Bank Statements

“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”  II Corinthians 5:18-19

We have all heard the phrase “irreconcilable differences” which is often the reason that a divorce is granted between a husband and wife.  They have come to the place where they can’t get along with each other due to all sorts of reasons, and there is apparently nothing that can be done to peacefully keep them together, to reconcile, or as Mr. Webster puts it, “to make friendly (with each other) again”.  Business partners go their separate ways due to irreconcilable differences in running a business.  Churches split, not so much over the scriptures, but rather over differences of interpretation of scriptures.  It may have happened, but I have never heard of a church that split and later reunited.  Sin has caused a split between God and mankind, and without a Savior, that separation would have been irreconcilable.

When Adam and Eve sinned, the relationship between them and their Creator was broken.  If you had a close friend, someone you trusted and enjoyed his or her company, but one day he or she did something to deliberately hurt you physically or mentally, your attitude about that person would change.  Even if he or she apologized, your relationship would likely not be the same.  When Adam and Eve sinned, they willingly disobeyed God.  I don’t think they meant to hurt Him by their sin, but the temptation put before them by Satan was too strong for them to reject his offer.  Their action was, in effect, to place Satan above their Creator by allowing Satan’s lie to override God’s command.  The first commandment had not yet been issued, “no other gods before Me”, but since there was only God, their Benefactor, and the two of them, wouldn’t they know by instinct that He was the One to whom to give their allegiance?  Since Satan’s desire is to take God’s place as sovereign ruler, Adam and Eve became a part of his plan as has everyone born since that time.  The only way to opt out of the devil’s plan and from under his thumb is to be regenerated, that is, born again, receiving a new life in Christ and leaving Satan with one less soul under his dominion.

Adam and Eve made the wrong choice leaving God with no other option but to break off His relationship with them and, consequently, breaking His relationship with all who came after them.  It seems rather harsh, but it is as if God said to them, “If you would rather follow Satan, then go ahead.” However, God would never give up that easily.  There were a couple of times, though, when God almost did give up on His people, but Moses convinced Him that to destroy His chosen people would cause Him to be mocked among the unbelieving world.

In order to accomplish the success of the gospel, God called men like Paul and every preacher of the gospel to present God’s plan of reconciliation to the world.  In Romans 10:13-17, Paul assured us that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”.  He then poses a problem:  how can folks call on Jesus if they don’t believe in Him?  How can they believe in Him if they have never heard of Him?  How can they hear about Him without someone to preach the gospel to them?  How can one preach to them unless God sends him?  All of these questions are answered in the fact that God calls preachers of the gospel and sends them across the globe as ministers of reconciliation.  It is God’s doing by His mercy.  He was not the cause of the separation that occurred when man sinned, but He is the Initiator to reinstate His creation into a right relationship with Him.  He was not only the Initiator, but the means through His Son, Jesus Christ, whereby man could return to Him in full pardon of sin and be reconciled to our Creator God.  Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty for men’s and women’s sins.  All people have been forgiven of their sin, but they must repent and believe in Christ because not doing so is the only sin, the irreconcilable sin, that God will not forgive.

When we reconcile our bank statements, we match what we have in our checkbook with what the bank says we have in the statement they send to us or we get online.  If there is a discrepancy, we search our records to find the cause especially if the statement indicates that we have less money than what we think we have.  If we were to try and reconcile our life with how God views our life, we would definitely come up short every time.  Knowing that fact, how eager are we to search and find the cause of our discrepancies, rather, our sins?  The only way to reconcile our lives with the Lord, is to repent of our sins and trust in Him to reconcile our lives in order that we will not come up short in the final analysis.