The Ministry Of Reconciliation预览

The Ministry of Reconciliation

Day Three – Gifted To Reconcile

It has been said that to have reconciliation between parties requires a give and take on both sides.  Sounds more like compromise, doesn’t it? Rarely do both parties get all they want with a compromise agreement. With reconciliation, either a requirement is forfeited or one or both parties grant forgiveness. Sometimes there is a compromise to do this. Interested parties must see that there is something more important at stake than holding onto a position, and the relationship being reestablished becomes a greater goal. This helps us understand how a Holy God would embrace sinners like you and me into His heart and reconcile us to Him.

The give and take was seen in that God did the giving and we did the taking. We didn’t have much to give back to Him other than a response to His gift, which is love and obedience, and we even blow that much of the time.  But we need to see that though we have been reconciled to God, He did not compromise on the requirement of being sinless and perfect. This is where we have to change our earthly understanding about reconciliation with God and not see it as a compromise.  

To have a reconciled relationship with God requires the complete perfection and absolute purity of Jesus to be our substitution. He did the work for us. We are the recipients. There is no compromise with God on this requirement. We can be reconciled, and He reconciled us to Him.  But we have to do it on His terms. Because this is true for us, it is also true in us, if we are a disciple of Christ.

As reconcilers who are given the ministry of reconciliation, we need to understand the power of the Gospel that can do the impossible to reconcile sinners to God, and as well, sinners with each other. When you find it impossible to forgive, to love, to reconcile and to restore, just remember what was done for you. You have been gifted to be a reconciler because you have been reconciled. You have a ministry for doing this. So use your gift.