Reconciliation

“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. 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. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭5:17-21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Reconciliation

We are a divided people. We have been separated by color, by nation, by politics, by so many things that they are beyond count. All of these things that separate, have resulted in all of humanity existing in enemy camps. Right now, the world is in demonstration over the death of a man in Minneapolis. The movement is everywhere. As a joke, I looked up Black Lives Matter in Iceland. Yup, they are marching in Iceland. There is something odd about Icelanders holding signs saying, “Black Lives Matter, and seeing nary a black person in sight.

I was a kid back in the sixties, and I remember when MLK jr was still alive. I remember the marches back then. There was much hope for change. Good laws came from the effort, but little deep change was done in the human heart. The camps became geographically separated, with many whites fleeing to the suburbs. There were legal remedies, but no real change. The bias were just driven underground. What was an outward scream, became a whisper.

As I look at the current effort, I can’t help but think that this current effort will have the same outcome. There will be gestures, maybe an ordinance, perhaps even a street named, but there will be little real transformation. Black people will live in separate reality from whites, and the problems will linger, out of view, but still affecting everything. True reconciliation is virtually impossible with men.

True reconciliation requires God. Before we can reconcile with each other, we must first come to know the creator of all of us. God is the uniter of souls. In His creation, God did not have a white assembly line and a black one. No, He made one people, with the same needs, the same, desires, worries and fears.

In today passage it talks about the most important reconciliation, God and man. It also talks about what happens before that can occur, and the work that God has done through Jesus. Those of us who have been forgiven of our sins, are new creations. We are able to approach God and be reconciled.

No law will make us new, no ordinance will provide that new vision. Only the saving blood of Jesus Christ an unite the hearts of people, separated by sin of the flesh. Only God can bring reconciliation between people.

Making an effort to fix old problems with old methods, using old flesh is pointless. It will fail. This current crisis is a situation that requires the power of God. Only He can bring the newness of life. It is like putting new wine in old wine skins, the wine ferments, and blows the skins apart. Put the wine in new wine skins. They stretch together, and have the flexibility to change.

The current effort is admirable. I like seeing all the people of many races with a renewed commitment to racial equality. I love the images, the emotion and all the intent, but unless Jesus is in the middle of it, it will fail. Jesus paid for our sins. He paid for the sin of racism, of silence, of apathy, and He is the only one who can change the people.

Jesus became sin for us. He became sin for those that rejected Him, He became sin for Roman and the Jew. He became sin for the black and the white. The officers and the demonstrators. In Him we can have the righteousness of God. By the power of God we can have one heart, the heart that can reconciled at the deepest levels, because it is truly one heart.

Believers, pray for the demonstrators, pray for the police, pray for our leaders. Pray for their salvation. Also pray for yourselves. I know that I need to pray daily for the heart of Christ to influence how I deal with people. The Lord reminds me daily that Jesus died for my worst enemy and my closest friend.

Pray for reconciliation with the God of the Universe, who came down to live as one of us, that we later be with Him in Heaven.

THE PRAYER CHAIR IS OPEN! Send me your requests!