Reconciled!

Reconciled!

“But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13

There is perhaps only one thing sweeter than a long-term friendship that has weathered time and its varied stills and storms; that is the restoration of a friendship broken so deeply there seemed little hope of enjoying it again. Long-term friendships are comfortable and a refuge from life’s uncertainties. But to have the pain, doubt and even anger healed by the reuniting of friends is a joy that is hard to express.

Sometimes we long for an outside party to help negotiate a resolution. Having had little contact with our previous friend, we have no idea their response. Will they be open to renewing the relationship? Are there issues they have held onto that I have forgotten? Will they think my issues are so insignificant they never should have influenced the rift in the first place? Whatever the case, most restoration is not resolved without at least some pain.

It is unfortunate, but not every relationship will be restored in this life. One of the parties may not care to resolve the relationship; too much water under the bridge, or not worth the time. We must always stay open to healing the rift, but not allow it to keep us from moving forward with our life.

The greatest relationship of the entire world was once ruptured. All of us were once far away from God. Although we may have believed He existed and longed for His love, our own self-centered nature kept us apart, placing ourselves and wants above His. We were like a broken friend who would talk as if everything was great with our relationship, but we continued actually know nothing about our friend at all. We talked as if we did, but would not take to hear what our friend tried to express about Himself.

God, is His exquisite love for us, renewed the relationship on His own. He struck down every barrier that kept us from intimacy with Him. He did not make us come crawling back to Him, acting like some abused animal. He opened His arms wide to us, the ones who had severed the relationship in the first place.

But, beyond mere restoration, we are “united” with Christ, and “brought near” through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. It baffles my mind that the great God of the universe desires us and makes every effort to offer us a deeply intimate relationship with Him.

Jesus told His disciples, shortly before going to the cross, that He now called them His friends. “I no longer call you slaves,” He said, “because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.” (John 15:15) Jesus chose to confide in His disciples, to tell them the deepest intents of His heart.

Imagine the best human relationship you currently enjoy. How many times have you confided in that friend? Things you would share with no one else, you trusted to them. You are so comfortable with each other you never measure your words. You can say and be exactly who you are, knowing you are perfectly accepted.

That is what God has done for us in Christ. We are fully accepted, closer even than friends with God. United with Christ, His very being intertwined with our own, we go through life conscious that the God who owes us nothing has given us everything in Him. Once so far away from Him that our best ideas were light-years away from reality, we now rest in His divine nearness.

Rest in His love. There is no purpose for anxiety or fear. Father God has broken down every barrier that separated us and invited us to dwell in His love firsthand. And, with the barrier between God and us broken down, so also are the barriers between all men and women. In Christ there is no separation, no in and out, no us and them. There is only Christ and His love being shared across every false obstruction created by man.