To begin with, in keeping with my word-nerdness, I had to
think about what part of speech that reconciliation falls under. It is a verb!
This infers some type of “action” if we go back to our elementary English
lessons. So, reconciliation requires for something to “be done.” So, where do
we “do” reconciliation?
One place where we “do” reconciliation is in our checkbook
(and during the expensive season of Christmas shopping, this can be a chore for
some). When we do this, we make sure that the credits and debits align. Do we
have enough resources to pay the price for the gifts that we have purchased?
This train of thought takes me to the true gift of Christmas. If we line up our
debits (our sins) and the credits (resources) that we have within us, we will
never be able to balance our spiritual “checkbook.” However, two millennia ago,
our loving God “stroked a check” in order to pay that price. We think about the
sacrifice of Good Friday on the cross but the first sacrifice of Christ came
when he left His Father’s side in Glory and came to be born in a barn in order
that he could reconcile us back to a relationship with God.
This reconciliation is two-way. Because of sin (original sin
and what we have managed to do all on our own) we can’t access God and God
can’t access us because of the chasm of sin that divides us. I remember an
evangelistic tract that was popular in the 1970’s that had an image of man
standing on one side of a very large canyon and God standing on the opposite
side. The premise of this small publication was that the one thing that can
become a bridge between the two sides of the canyon is the sacrifice of Christ
on the cross and the next picture showed the cross becoming that bridge. Salvation
was complete when we accepted the gift.
I suspect that most people who are reading this have accepted the gift of salvation so what does reconciliation with God have to do with you? Your sins were paid for and you have been reconnected with God. However, I would ask, during this season when we celebrate Christ’s birth, has your relationship grown beyond the initial reconciliation that occurred at your salvation? What are you “doing” with your relationship with God? Do you know Him differently than you did yesterday? Will you know Him more tomorrow than you do today? Reconciliation is an action word- what actions are you doing to continue to develop the relationship that began with the nativity… with the cross… with the empty tomb? Are you taking your relationship with God beyond the check and balance of the reconciliation of sin? I would encourage each of us to look at how we might grow to know God more personally, more intimately, more deeply this Advent Season. Allow God to continue to “do” reconciliation within you.
Patti K.Williams PhD
Former SA Officer
USA West
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