Reconciled

Christians have a lot of big words that they like to spout off without really knowing what they mean to sound smarter and holier. Seriously, how many people honestly know what the word "propitiation" means? I’ve had this beef with plastic Christianity for a while now ("plastic Christianity" referring to the "holier than thou" Christians who would have people believe that they have it all together, paint a pretty smile on their faces for church, and let their negative attitudes, lusts, and judgement of others grow like a fungus in the darkness of their "protected" souls… but that’s for another blog post). Both as an English nerd and a Christian trying to learn to stay real, I try very hard not to use words that I don’t really know what they mean. So when I looked at my list and saw that the next identity I’d have to tackle is "reconciled," I have to be honest I cringed a little. So what does an English nerd do when faced with an uncomfortable word? I head for a dictionary! Especially this one!

I feel the need to begin with the second definition that Merriam Webster gave, which is this: "To make consistent or congruous." In the previous post, I mentioned God having an original plan when He created mankind. It was a plan to have a deep, meaningful relationship with us, completely pure and free of shame. The Bible tells us that He would walk with Adam in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden—this perfect paradise of a place that He gave the first couple to live in. I also mentioned that He allowed that original plan to die at the hands of the free will that He gave mankind. Through salvation and by this second definition, He reconciled current reality with that original plan! He made it possible for us to have a relationship with Him that is "consistent or congruous" with that original plan. Colossians 1:22 puts it this way: "But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation." We are now in line with that original plan, because Christ paid the penalty for our sins so that we can have that pure, perfect relationship that God always meant to have with us!

The first definition provided was "to restore to friendship or harmony, settle, resolve." Romans 5:10 tells us "For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!" Sin made us God’s enemies, it put us against Him, we were at odds with Him. In this sense, reconciliation is removing that conflict that sin created. Our struggle against God has been settled and resolved through the forgiveness of our sins, and our friendship with Him is restored!

In Christ, I am reconciled. The sin that separated me from Him is paid for and forgiven so that I can have that perfect, pure relationship that God originally intended to have with mankind. I am holy in His sight, I’m without blemish and free from accusation, and I can walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day. And if that’s not something to get excited about, then I don’t know what is!

"All this 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 men’s sins against them. And He has committed us to the message of reconciliation."
2 Corinthians 5:18-19