8.15.21 | Kingdom Flips Reconciliation | Jeremy Hudson
I’ve sat here staring at a blank document on my screen for what feels like forever and have searched the far recesses of my memory to no avail. Not one memory has found its way to the front of my mind. I am trying to think of just one example of when a relationship was reconciled by accident. A story when a broken relationship was mended without any effort or conversation from either party. And I cannot think of anything even in that neighborhood.
That’s probably because reconciliation doesn’t happen by accident. It never has. In 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 we read that the ultimate reconciliation came about only because of a very intentional choice.
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.
It’s truly remarkable when you think about it. God, the offended party, was the one to take the first and biggest step in reconciling our relationship with Him. And then He took all the steps after that. All the way to the cross. As Paul says, God made the choice to not hold our mistakes against us, to be the first to say, “I forgive you” and “I love you.”
Reconciliation is the core of the Gospel.
As Christ-followers, it is our job—our purpose— to live the Gospel out loud so that others can experience it through us… and that includes reconciliation.
Our culture is clamoring for it. Because conflict is such a constant, because we find it on every front and sense it in every situation, leading relationships into reconciliation gives us an opportunity to showcase the Gospel in an incredible way.
I think it’s time we stop running away from difficult discussion and start running into reconciliation.
Even though I couldn’t come up with any examples of accidental reconciliation stories, I am willing to bet that we can all come up with situations where reconciliation is desperately needed. I doubt it would take any of us very long to get a list with more than a couple relationships that could be dramatically changed for the better if a healing conversation was had.
What’s keeping us from doing it? Probably a fear of what it will cost us.
And it is going to cost us… of that we can be sure. It will cost us time, energy, some emotional output too. If nothing else, it will probably cost us at least the cup of coffee or tea we will sip as the conversation transpires. But none of that cost will be higher than what our reconciliation cost God. He gave everything. He gave His one and only son. By comparison, is there any cost too high for us to not bring the reconciliation of the Gospel into view for others to see?
Tell you what—I WILL PAY FOR THE TEA or COFFEE!
I’m not kidding! If you will take the step of having or at least starting a healing conversation in the next seven days, I will send you a gift card to cover the coffee or tea for you and the person you are meeting with. All you need to do is send me an email after the meeting (info@fellowshipchristian.org). Don’t include any names or personal details that would reveal who the other person is. Instead, share with me what God did, is doing, or may have revealed to you through this process.
Here’s my hunch… I’ve got a feeling that if we will all start the ball of reconciliation rolling in the direction of some hurting relationships—we will see at least one incredible God Story be told because of it. Probably more than one.
And that story could be yours!
What are we waiting for?