“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19) In God’s word we are told that we are estranged from God, or better put, at enmity with God through our fallen sin nature. Furthermore, we are estranged, or at enmity, with our fellow men and even estranged from ourselves. To be more plain, we are at war with each of those three; God, fellow men and ourselves. However, praise God that He has not left us in such a state. Through Christ, our God has reconciled us unto Himself, restoring the relationship that mattered most, bringing us into a place of harmony and fellowship with our God.

​“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20) The apostle Paul here essentially is saying that God is exhorting or admonishing us to be reconciled to God through the Person of His Son, our Lord Christ Jesus. He takes it a step further by using the word, implore, which is better read as beg. Which in Scripture, beg is usually used to show earnest and passionate prayer. This passage is essentially a gospel invitation. A call to heed the message of the good news, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and respond to it. Respond how? In repentant faith, in a turning from sin and a laying down of our lives upon Christ in humble submission and obedience trusting Him and His finished work.

​Reconciliation has been given to us as God’s people, saved by His grace through His Son Jesus Christ, to not only call people to repentance and faith, but to call them to be reconciled to God. It is only through Christ that this reconciliation is offered, and yet, we must be reconciled, for if we are not reconciled, there is no hope for those who continue in war and opposition to God. Paul says that we are ambassadors for Christ, now do not let the word ambassador scare you or leave you confused, it simply means that we are given the authority through the supreme Authority that is Christ, to deliver the message of the need for all to be reconciled to God through Him. Reconciliation unto God is one of dire importance, above any of the other two people groups we are estranged from; fellow man and ourselves. If we are in Christ, we are a new creation, we have been reconciled unto God through Him, so why would we not want to proclaim that? Let us seek earnestly and honestly to call all men to be reconciled unto God, to respond in repentance and faith in Christ, that they too would be made right with God. 

​As a new creation, being given those new desires, we as Christians should desire to reconcile even our personal relationships with others. Be that people who have mistreated us time and time and time again, those who have broke our hearts, who have wronged us through deceit or theft, those who we have wronged or hurt, those who took advantage of us and/or those whom we took advantage of. We can not shine forth the glory of Christ in us, if we do not seek to forgive and to be reconciled. It is essential that we not only forgive, but we seek to make that relationship right. How many people do we know who have come from broken homes, and come to faith in Christ, and have found themselves in this place of harboring resentment toward their parents or family who have mistreated them in one fashion or another. Not to diminish the seriousness of the sin and the damage done, but we are called to forgive, to seek to reconcile the relationship. This applies even to broken marriages that seem to be crumbling apart. Forgive your spouse, work through it together, submit yourselves to your proper roles as Christ has ordained for you in the confines of your marriage. It is never God’s desire or wish that any be divorced, He has not permitted it. “He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery’.” (Matthew 19:8-9) “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Mark 10:9) 

​There were many things prior to God’s work in my life that I kept secret from my wife, things I knew would hurt her, things that I knew were sinful and would bring about no good through mentioning them. However, as God by His Spirit brought about the knowledge of my sin, the conviction of it, and led me to repentant faith in Christ, He by His mercy and grace also led me to reconcile my relationships I knew I had damaged. Shortly after my conversion (which felt more like immediately after my conversion), I had come forth to my wife about everything I had held back in secret, those deeds done in the dark that only the Lord and I knew of. Knowing it was the right thing to do, yet so badly waging war within myself as I knew she had grounds to leave me, to divorce me, take the kids and lose my family. I came forth, I told her everything through many tears and many times of reciting things as we are fallen and fallible and want to know all the details thinking it makes things better (it never really helps). To my surprise, and by God’s grace, Sabrina stuck it out with me, she forgave me, this invoked a confession and repentance on her part as well. We worked through things together, and we are by no means perfect, but by God’s grace He allowed that which He ordained, to remain together. Empowering us and enabling us by the work of His Spirit through the means of Christ’s finished work to stick together, to grow in love for one another, this time in true biblical love, that selfless sacrificial love for one another. 

​My dear reader, do not wait, do not be deceived into thinking that you’ve got time to do as you wish and come before God on your own terms and when you’re wanting to. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one will come to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6) “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) It is essential that you come now, and that you come to the Father through Christ. Humble yourselves, bow the knee in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, and lay your life upon Him. Cry out to the Lord, that He would reconcile you, that you have been His enemy for far too long and seek the Father’s forgiveness that He offers through faith in Christ. Trusting that the Son can bring you into fellowship and harmony with the Father, and desires to do so. Turn from your sin, your enmity to God, and fall on your face before God begging that He would bring you unto Himself. “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11)