If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
To reconcile means to restore to right relationship; to make peace where formerly there was hostility. The Bible speaks of humanity’s great need of being reconciled to God. When sin entered this world, and when we have sinned, we became alienated from God, adopting an attitude of hostility toward Him. This alienation is a divide we could never bridge on our own.
The crucified and risen Christ is for us the way. He is the reconciliation bridge from sin to righteousness, from unbelief to belief, from darkness to light, from despair to hope, from fear to peace, from emptiness to fullness, from death to everlasting life. This bridge is amazing; but there it is, inviting us, waiting for us to step out in faith, and cross it. Jesus Christ has provided this way for us, for He declared and fulfilled this truth, that “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
With incredible and very deep love, and with powerful willingness to suffer and lay down His own life to restores us to right relationship with God for all eternity, Jesus Christ came, and for us He gave His all. By His sacrificial death and triumphal resurrection, Jesus Christ became for us the reconciler. He is the reconciliation bridge, bringing together Almighty, Holy, and Loving God and all who through faith in Him become God’s dearly loved, forgiven, and forever children.
By stepping out in faith, trusting Jesus who is the way, we are blessed to receive His great salvation, crossing over from death unto life. Jesus Christ reconciles us, then gives to us the sweet blessing of showing others the way to The Reconciliation Bridge, thus to cross over this glorious bridge to eternal life through faith in Jesus. We who have done this through faith in Jesus, are now His agents of reconciliation. It is all about Jesus.
If we have everything but lack Jesus, we have nothing.
If we have nothing, yet have Jesus, we have everything.
For Prayerful Reflection: What does it mean for you to know today that though you were once far apart from God because of sin, now through faith you are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ who was crucified, but is now risen, and will soon come again?