Inner Reconciliation

The Church of the Brethren is known as one of the 3 historic peace churches, so the word 'reconciliation' is no stranger to a Brethren or I imagine a Mennonite in fact. However, I find that I almost always envision 'reconciliation' as an outward work... peacemaking within a community, in a war torn land, in an unsettled home. This is worthwhile 'reconciliation' work in deed. After all, blessed are the peacemakers.

But Jesus shows us that we must also continually call upon the Lord for inner reconciliation work. We need to be reconciled to God.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

Dictionary.com defines 'reconciliation' as the process of making consistent or compatible. In the outward peace work, we may understand this compatibility as enabling groups to work together harmoniously. In terms of an inner work, the 'reconciliation' would take the form of making our own selves consistent and compatible.

I believe that if we are perfectly honest with ourselves, we are hypocritical beings. How often do we urge others to go to church yet ourselves struggle to find 15 minutes to be with the Lord of creation every day. How often do we forget during the day to reflect upon Christ as the center of our life? How often do we struggle to live out that purpose? As Paul said, "For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead I do the evil that I hate" (Romans 7:19). This is exactly why we need to lift our lives up to Christ daily, confessing our sins and asking the Holy Spirit to do the work of reconciliation to make us more perfect, to be reconciled to God. Then we can daily be a "new creation"!

Praise be to the God who makes all things new!