Imagine a world where impossible reconciliation goes viral. Putin and Zelensky not only bring the war in Ukraine to an end, but they become close allies and friends, sharing meals together and selflessly serving one another. Or picture Hamas and Israel sharing an indivisible union of like-hearted companionship.
Or imagine rebellious, mutinous people who have done nothing but hate God being reconciled as children of God.
These situations seem impossible because there would have to be a radical transformation of both parties for such a thing to take place. Surprisingly, we read about such a reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
📖 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)”
✨ Every person is impossibly separated from God by their own sinful hearts. But God does the impossible and reconciles the world to Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now everyone who places their faith in Jesus is made new!
What’s more, the reconciling God who makes us new also enlists us in His mission of reconciling others to Himself. We are ambassadors with a message: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us.”
- Are you still in a place of hostility against God? Confess your need for God’s grace and receive the free gift of righteousness that cost Jesus His very life.
- Have you been made new and reconciled by God? Are you being swept up by the worries or pleasures of this life, or are you caught up by the mission of being an ambassador for Christ to a broken world?