November 11 Click on verses for Full Scripture	previous - - - - - - - - - - next
Today's Pathway: II Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Paul wrote in verse 17 that at salvation God made His children to be "new creatures". Paul now reminds his readers in verse 18 that all the things that a Christian receives are of God. It is God Who redeems and justifies and sanctifies the believer. It is God Who makes all things new. These things are possible because God has reconciled the believer to Himself. The basic idea of reconciliation is "the restoration of friendly relationships after a period of enmity or estrangement". We often use this word in dealing with banking issues. When someone receives their checking account statement at the end of the month it probably has a bottom line that differs from what the individual's checkbook says. The two numbers disagree, and through "reconciling the checkbook" the two figures ultimately say the same thing. On a much grander scale this is what occurs when a man gets saved. Matthew Henry wrote,

"Reconciliation supposes a quarrel, or breach of friendship; and sin has made a breach, it has broken the friendship between God and man. The heart of the sinner is filled with enmity against God, and God is justly offended with the sinner. Yet there may be a reconciliation; the offended Majesty of Heaven is willing to be reconciled."

Before salvation, we were all separated from God. In fact, Romans 5:10 goes so far as to state that we were "enemies" of God. God was angered by our sin, and the penalty for that was to be our eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire. Yet He still loved mankind enough that He made a way for us to be reconciled to Him. This was accomplished because Jesus' death on the cross satisfied the wrath of God. Romans 3:25 says of Christ,

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood."

"Reconciliation is not something man does but what he receives. Reconciliation does not happen when man decides to stop rejecting God, but when God decides to stop rejecting man. It is a divine provision by which God’s holy displeasure against alienated sinners is appeased, His hostility against them removed, and a harmonious relationship between Him and them established."

One of the duties of those who have been reconciled is to share the message of reconciliation with others. This is a ministry which we have been given by God. The word "ministry" means "the rendering of assistance by performing certain duties, often of a humble or menial nature". It is worth noting here that God has given His children salvation, and He has given them gifts, and He has given them blessings, but He has also given them responsibilities. Think about this for a moment: the reason that any of us are saved today is the fact that somewhere along the line someone else took his or her responsibilities seriously and shared with us the Gospel message of redemption through Christ. What if your parents, or a spouse, or a co-worker, or a friend, or a soul-winner knocking on your door, had not carried out the ministry of reconciliation? Where would you be? All of us would still be at enmity with God, heading for the Lake of Fire, and clueless as to what to do about it. Therefore, as we are thankful to those who carried out their ministry of reconciliation with us, so we should be carrying out our ministry of reconciliation to others.