Reconciliation is one of the great joys in life. It can be defined as the restoration of a relationship to a harmonious state after a dispute. I can think of many times in my life where different relationships I had needed reconciliation, but possibly the most important to me was my relationship with my dad. To make a long story very short, we had conflict. There was hurt and frustration on my end, but growing up, I didn’t know how to deal with it or resolve it, so I would just stuff my emotions deep down. When I got to college and really started to deepen my faith, it became apparent that I had to process and deal with all of those emotions in a healthy way.
I started truly following Jesus and pressing into the Lord during college. During that time, I went to an Encounter retreat that helped bring much-needed clarity about my relationship with my dad. God showed me that there could be unity and peace in that relationship, even if we disagreed or, at times, misunderstood each other. Because God made a way to reconcile us to Him through Jesus, He also gave us as His children the ministry of reconciliation for our relationships on this side of heaven. Just as God sees all my faults, sins, and shortcomings and chooses to love and be in relationship with me, I also can choose to love and care for others, even in conflict and hurt. While we aren’t guaranteed to always have perfect earthly relationships, we can look to Him, who is perfect in every way, as a picture and example of how to pursue reconciliation and peace with others.
This is who God is. He is about reconciling us back to Himself and making us a new creation. He brings us from death to life. Let us praise the name of Jesus in this season!