Reconciliation As An Indicator Of Restoration

The term “reconciliation” indicates a restoration of friendship and harmony.  For instance, consider a long-standing family feud.  What may have started as carelessness and insensitivity on the part of one leads to separation and ill will. When in humility, wrong is confessed, apologies are said, and trust is restored, reconciliation occurs. When we think about reconciliation on a spiritual level, we are reminded of the many ways we rebel against God. By our sins, we crucified His Son almost two thousand years ago.

The prophet Isaiah wrote: “your iniquities have separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2).

On our own, we deserve to be separated from God, yet God in His great love and wisdom took the very consequence of our sins and turned it into an avenue of reconciliation (Romans 5:6-11). When our sins caused us to be out of harmony with God’s will, the blood of Christ brought us back into harmony and friendship with God (2 Corinthians 5:18; Ephesians 2:13-16; Colossians 1:20-22).

While we sometimes pay a high price for the consequences of our sins on this earth, God’s reconciliation through the blood of Christ heals our spiritual relationship with Him.  He restores our friendship and continues to give us more blessings than we could ever deserve because of His wondrous love and our sins are remembered no more (Ephesians 1:3; Hebrews 8:12; Hebrews 10:17).

The Psalmist wrote concerning our sin status before God: “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

Reconciliation is the divine evidence of God’s goodness and caring (1 Peter 5:6-7). Reconciliation means that God knows our names and cares about our problems in this life.  Why? Simply because He is our Heavenly Father and true Friend (John 15:13-15; 1 John 1:9; cf. Matthew 12:49-50).

Beloved, because of what God has done for each of us, let the praise from our lips be, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets