Reconciliation

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross -- through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him -- if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant. Colossians 1:19-21


As a teenagerI had a close friend that I shared with in just about everything. We had many classes together, went back and forth between each others' homes, we were in band together for several years, ran around together on the weekends, and shared many of the same friends. That is, until our senior year in high school. Being as that was almost 25 years ago, I don't remember all the details of our falling out, but I believe it centered around hanging out with "the popular kids" and what sort of activities we would be involved in. Turns out, I lost to the "in crowd".

This went on for several months until right before graduation. I suddenly started hearing from her more. She would ask me to hang out with her and several of her new friends more and, eventually, invited me to go out with them after graduation. I was thrilled, of course, to have my friend back and we seemed to pick up right where we had left off. However, that night after graduation it came out that her parents had told her she couldn't go out that night unless I came along. Something about how they knew she wouldn't get into any trouble if they knew I was there. Looking back, it really was a compliment as to how her parents felt about me and how I was known as a responsible and trustworthy teenager. However, it didn't feel like much of a compliment at the time.

I don't remember us being together alot after that. I do recall exchanging a few letters our first couple of years in college, but that was about it. We lost connection completely sometime during our college years.

It can be hard to reconcile broken relationships. And, as in my case, sometimes you think you have reached a reconciliation only to find out that it really wasn't much of a reconciliation at all.

Thankfully, we have the promise from God for a true reconciliation. When we find reconciliation with God, we don't find that He only meets us halfway. We don't find that we have to do all the work to keep the relationship going. We don't find that we only have a friend when things are going good for Him. God meets us all the way. He is ALWAYS with us. He is ALWAYS listening. He is ALWAYS ready to lead and guide us where we should go. He ALWAYS knows best and we can ALWAYS trust Him. Even when we don't understand, when we are shaking our heads in disbelief, when we are hurting more than we ever thought we could hurt... He ALWAYS has our best interests at heart and we CAN TRUST HIM COMPLETELY.

To truly reconcile, I think we must make peace with whatever happened to harm the relationship. With God, that has already been done. Jesus made that peace when he gave up his life on the cross. We don't have to make peace with God, it has already been done for us.

It all goes back to the simple truth that with God we have everything we need. On this earth we all will encounter tough situations throughout our lives. However, we can always rely on the promises of God. With God there is always true reconciliation and a peace like none other.

In closing, I want to share a quote that was included in my study book on this passage. It is a quote from a sermon preached in 1746 by Jonathan Edwards.

"What is there that you can desire should be in a Savior that is not in Christ? Or, wherein should you desire a Savior should be otherwise than Christ is? What excellency is there wanting? What is there that is great or good? What is there that is venerable or winning? What is there that is adorable or endearing? Or, what can you think of, that would be encouraging, that is not to be found in the person of Christ? ... What is there wanting, or what would you add if you could, to make him more fit to be your Savior?"