Are You Reconciled? 

An Adult Devotional

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ. . .  (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)

Reconciliation, what a great word! It is the means by which two parties are brought together; namely God and people! Reconciliation is a transitive verb, an action word that needs an object to make sense. And who are those objects that have been reconciled to God? (People who trust in Christ Jesus.) 

Merriam-Webster's definitions of reconciled are:
*to restore to friendship or harmony <reconciled the factions or groups> 
*settle, resolve <reconcile differences> to fix
*to check against another for accuracy (as in a financial account)
*to account for

Our connection to God is broken because of sin. But through Christ's death on the cross, the punishment for our sins is paid for and our friendship is restored. God has fixed our problem; there is harmony for those who trust in Christ. 

For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:10) God took the initiative to reconcile us because he loves us. He made the first move! "While we were still sinners---that is, enemies of God---Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He restored our friendship before we did anything to deserve it, or could do anything to deserve it. Not only does God reconcile our friendship, but we become his children, members of his royal family!

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12).

Reconcile is also an accounting term, meaning to balance accounts. When an account is reconciled, the debit entry is equal to the credit entry.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

If Christ hadn't reconciled us to God, we could never repay our debt to him, we would be eternally unbalanced. But Christ, who knew no sin, bore our sins on the cross. He paid our debt, he reconciled our account. Now, through Christ alone, our debit entry is equal to our credit entry! 
                   
" . . . Abraham in hope believed . . . . being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. . . . 'it was credited to him as righteousness.' The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (Romans 4:18-24).

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for reconciling me to yourself. Help me now to take the initiative, to make the first move, and reconcile my relationships towards others. Amen. 

Copyright 2012 SA Keith
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