An Agent of Reconciliation

January 25, 2023

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 NLT

I know one statement that will get agreement from virtually everyone—we live in a world that is deeply divided in a plethora of ways. Political party divisions headline the news, racial-ethnic groups line up as enemies, religions cause division. We are divided as regions and classes. Most of us can tell a story about something that split apart friendships, families, and churches. The technology that once was hailed as a way to bring greater unity to the world is now a prominent tool for dividing us even further as we use it to attack and criticize those who are different from us.

The need for reconciliation has never been more evident, but it has always been mankind’s greatest need. God started by reconciling us to Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus paid for our sins, and now God doesn’t count our sins against us anymore. We have been reconciled to God and are new creations. Our old life is gone and a new life has begun.

But that’s not all. It is available to everyone! Not only has God reconciled us, but He has also trusted us to be His agents of reconciliation to the world. We are His ambassadors, appealing to others to also be reconciled to God. However, our world is so divided that this essential message will not be heard above the cacophony around us if our words are all we have. We can’t just declare reconciliation. We must demonstrate it. People must see what reconciliation looks like.

We do that by aggressively breaking down walls that divide. We freely forgive those who have hurt us. We seek out and welcome those who are different, even our enemies. We don’t concentrate on policies or programs, but like Jesus, we concentrate on people. We don’t just schedule events; we get close to people and experience life with them. They see what reconciliation looks like when they see Jesus through us. Their hearts will be opened to hear the Good News of what God has done through Jesus.

• The most significant thing I will ever do is help another person be reconciled to the God who loves them. Help me, Jesus.