Reconciled!

Reconciled!

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18‭-‬19 NIV

The Context and Focus:

Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, would take time to explain the amazing blessings and benefits now available through the death and resurrection of Jesus. At the time of this sacrifice, none of us reading this on earth was born, yet Christ paid it forward, in hope that we all will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. His death and life are the reasons why I am saved, and is the basis of my service and commitment to Christ. I may not always get it right, but I know whom I have come to believe and I am sure and certain that His life has also secured eternal life for me. This is why the verse just before today's extract makes it clear that "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here." It does not matter what has gone on before; in Christ, a new chapter opens, the focus and direction change, and the eternal reality is different. But then, think of this: would God do all He did for just a select few? Would he pay such a high price for just a small group of people? It is clear that God's gift of salvation is not limited by my past, but about the potential in my future, and what God is able to achieve in and through me, when my life is already totally surrendered to Him. Just as I am saved, so does God expect and demand that I should also be a channel of salvation to other people.

The Message:

If it pleased God, he could have called me to Himself the day I gave my life to Him, but He has left me on this earth for a purpose, and that is to bring the knowledge and message of the living God to a dying world. As Christ reconciled us to himself by His blood, so does He expect us to carry out the assignment of reaching out to others with the same message. As one who has been saddled with the assignment and message of reconciliation, I cannot substitute the message of the cross with anything or anyone else, because there is no one and nothing else that could do the work that the blood of Jesus did. I did not come to know Christ by high-sounding words, coercion or by spending money; none of these things could have delivered my soul from the grasp of the devil. Now that I am saved, I cannot and must nor adopt any other means to convince men of their need for Christ; I must just focus on the cross, the grave and the life of Christ. This is the complete message; the focus of reconciliation. The ministry of reconciliation is targeted at the whole world. It is a ministry that has a focus, a message and a target. It is only a person who knows and understands the value of what he has received that is motivated to tell others about it. 

The Conclusion:

You cannot give what you don't have, and you cannot defend something that you have not first come to believe and accept as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This is why God is not commiting this great assignment into the hands of just anyone, but into the hands and lives of all who have been reconciled first to God, through Christ. Church membership is good; fellowship with other people is also very good, and being a part of the community impacting lives is also good, but the right foundation for all of these things is a close relationship with God, established upon a total surrender to the authority and Lordship of Jesus. Anything else is self-deceit, and it will not lead to God's ideal end for me. He has made it clear that life is only through the Son, and I will do well to make the approach through this Son, and also introduce others to the Son too. That is the summary of the assignment we all have been given, and one with amazing rewards attached, if done the right way. Am I truly reconciled to God, and can God count on me in these end times to be His hands, feet, eyes, mouth and heart? The world eagerly awaits the manifestation of the sons of God. God's time of favour is here.