What does it mean to be reconciled? The word reconcile means to resolve or settle something. It is the end of estrangement. The most important reconciliation for us is the end of estrangement between us and God caused by original sin. When Adam sinned, it caused an immediate break in the relationship between God and mankind. No longer would God walk in the garden each day with them. Our sin broke the connection, but through Jesus, we can be reconciled to God. In Romans 5:10 we are enemies of God because of our sin. Yet, because of God’s love for those he made in His image, He sent His Son to die for our sins so that we could be reconciled and restored to a relationship with Him.
Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
For reconciliation to take place, both parties must be willing to renew the relationship. However, someone must be the initiator. Romans 5:8 teaches us that God was the initiator of our reconciliation with Him. He commended, meaning He demonstrated His love for us by giving His Son to be our mediator and pay the price required for redemption. God made the first move! Do we deserve the opportunity to be reconciled to God? No, but because of His love, God gave so that we could receive. I love the way the commentator Albert Barnes states it “When the redeemed enter heaven, all their sins will have been taken away; not a spot of the deep dye of inquiry will remain on their souls.”
Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Because of His actions, Colossians 1:20-23 teaches us we can be at peace with God. When we accept this gift of salvation, the gift of payment for our sins, Jesus presents us holy, unblameable, and unreproveable to the Father.
Colossians 1:20-23 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.”
Once we are reconciled to God, we have a responsibility to seek to reconcile others to Him. We become agents of reconciliation. In II Corinthians 5:20 we are ambassadors for Christ. We are to convey what God has done for us by reconciling us to Himself. We are to speak on God’s behalf to encourage and challenge others to know Jesus as their Savior. Only the Holy Spirit can convict, but God uses us to help them understand their conviction and how to be in a right standing with God.
II Corinthians 5:20 “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
One day we will stand before God and give an account for the kind of ambassador we have been. I think at best we will be ashamed of how little we have done for Him. But, as we see the importance of this task, we need to give great effort to the cause. We must win others to Him. The most important thing on this side of Heaven is to tell others about Jesus. Win them, and then disciple them, so they too can spend eternity with God. We will not only help them to have a new destination at death, but we will also be helping others because they too will become ambassadors.
