Reconciliation with Himself

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters

“If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth.”  ~ Tyson

After the assassination of her husband, Corazon Aquino became the voice of reform for the Filipino people in the face of corruption and the abuse of power. In reconciling the people with the governing party she warned that, “Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace, it shouldn’t be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice.” Without the fundamental principles of love, justice, virtue, and truth, any transformation or change is just moving from the frying pan to the fire. For change to have any lasting positive results, it requires a stable framework upon which to remain fundamentally sound. Just as a building requires a firm foundation to remain in spite of the storms, one’s life requires fundamental principles that are unmovable no matter the circumstances. This unmovable foundation for living is only possible if these principles are eternal and infinite in knowledge, power, reason, and love. It is for this reason Paul says, “All this (that which is ‘new’) is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18-19 NIV).

To reconcile means, “To bring one thing into correspondence with another.” When reconciling with God, we are not talking about what’s better… vanilla or chocolate or… my opinion or your opinion; God is bringing us into agreement with what is ‘Holy’ or absolute perfection. It is for this purpose A. W. Tozer writes, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply” because to get a man to correspond with Holiness, that man must repent of his willfulness and let go of his desire for control and appetite for power. This is to touch a man at the core of his being, for the purpose of giving him a ‘new’ heart. It is this reconciliation that Paul is thinking of when he writes, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NLT). Our Heavenly Father desires to fill us up to overflowing with the blessing of All He possesses. And the conduit to which these flow through is Jesus Christ who is the ‘way of reconciliation’. I pray you let go of your pride and agree with Him; and open wide your life to receive All He has for you today.

Choose wisely….

“For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things…   

  Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.”

   (Psalms 81:10;

           Psalms 37:3-6 NLT)

Praying 4 U

 

Written by David Brown: David Brown is a husband, father, grandfather, Pastor with a Masters of Religious Studies and a Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religions. Dave is the Associate Pastor of Pemberton’s First Baptist Church. He is the author of two devotional books, “From a Chair by the Window.” And “#PrayerWinsThe Day”.

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This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “… who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” – Hebrews 1:3-4