Reconciled

 

3/14/2023

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

My pup has not seen her best friend all winter. Thankfully, she now has a boyfriend next door. He’s younger, which makes her a cougar, although that seems WRONG! When she sees either of these beloved friends, she gets SO EXCITED and cannot wait to greet them and spend time with them. They bound around and jump in complete joy. It is such a wonderful thing to see.

Just like their quickness to forgive, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, their love for one another is true and without condition. Sure, every once in a while, a tail gets stepped on or they get a little rough, but they come right back to just being glad to be together. I was thinking how it is for us humans and our people. We, like the pups, are often so thrilled to see the special people in our lives. It may be a planned gathering, or we may just bump into a trusted friend and the first blush of meeting is one of joy with hugs and how are you. Sure, we are happy to see one another, but one patch of roughness can sully the whole experience. Offense can happen quickly and then we may not be so excited to see them the next time.

This past Sunday, the message at my church was about reconciliation. Our pastor spoke about both being reconciled in our relationship to each other and to God. He even spoke about resolution and understanding within the church. This was a challenging message because it called those in attendance to really examine the state of their relationships. Are we joyful when we are with others? Are we joyful when we are with God? Are we honest with others when our answer to “how are you doing?” is always “great”, “fine”, or even “okay”? Are we honest with God about how we are doing? Do we hold on to the stepped-on tails and rough patches that create deeper division? Are we ready to forgive and extend grace easily? For that is what God always does for us.

The greatest and most loving act of all time is how Jesus’ sacrifice reconciled us to the Father. Maybe during this time leading up to Easter, we can work on those broken or fractured relationships, and ask God to mend them through true reconciliation by way of forgiveness and grace.

Romans 5:10 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.