An important element involved in our salvation is reconciliation.  Reconciliation refers to a restoration of divine favor.  It denotes a change from a state of enmity to one of friendship; thus, spiritually, it has to do with our friendship with God being restored. This was the purpose of God from the moment sin entered the world through Adam and Eve.  God’s reconciliation with man was the message of the apostles of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 (ESV)
¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;   ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

We should praise God and be thankful to Him for our reconciliation since He is the one who, according to Paul, reconciled us to Himself.  He did this through Christ.  He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Propitiation has to do with the atoning death of Christ on the cross.  Jesus was willing to be the sacrifice or sin-offering that man needed to appease the wrath of God.

Romans 3:25–26 (ESV)
²⁵ Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Jesus dying for our sins made it possible for God to remain just while not counting our trespasses against us because Christ paid the price for our transgressions on the cross.  This is the message of reconciliation that the apostles preached, and obeying that message has changed our state or condition before God from one of enmity to that of friendship.  Because of this reconciliation, we have peace with God.

Romans 5:1 (ESV)
¹Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What could be more important than having a friendship with God?  We are truly a blessed people to be able to say with Abraham that we are friends of the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

There is one more important thing about this message of reconciliation preached by Paul and the other apostles of Christ that I should point out before I close this blog.  While God does the reconciling, He does not force it on anyone.  In closing the passage on reconciliation, Paul implored man (obviously, those who were yet to have their friendship with God restored) to be reconciled.  Not everyone is reconciled to God just because Jesus died for man’s sin.  Only those who accept reconciliation by their obedience to the gospel are actually reconciled.

God has done the heavy lifting here.  He came up with the plan.  He sacrificed His one and only Son, and then raised Him from the dead after He was crucified.  All you have to do for God’s plan to be appropriated is obey the gospel (Romans 1:16) and live faithfully (Revelation 2:10).  These two things are non-negotiable.  Your friendship with God will never be restored and maintained without them.  The good news is that God is willing to help you because He wants you to be saved (2 Timothy 2:3-4).

God has done His part.  Will you do yours?

A you wind down for the night, think about these things.