Reconciled

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:16-20

Would you be happy to see your enemy in heaven? Not just apathetic about their existence? 

Once we are reconciled to Christ, we should be reconciled to everyone else who is reconciled to Christ. If we remain unreconciled to people who are reconciled to Christ, then we are making our grievances a higher priority than Christ’s reconciliation, which is self-centeredness. If our focus is not on our reconciliation with Christ, our relational contentment becomes our supreme authority. When reconciliation through Jesus Christ is our supreme focus, then we will be glad in the Lord and rejoice for all who put their trust in the Lord. This doesn’t mean that we are not still hurt by what happened in the past; it just means that those relational hurts don’t matter to us any more because of the inordinate value of reconciliation. The value of reconciliation through Christ should be so high for us that we are overjoyed if anyone receives such reconciliation.

Is not being enemies enough for reconciliation? 

Reconciliation means being restored to friendship. Christ did more than pay for our sins. He restored us to a right friendship with God. If Jesus paid for our sins and then let us go on our way, ignoring us, He would have literally given us hell—living forever apart from God. That would have been an insufficient payment to accomplish God’s desire to redeem mankind. To be reconciled, we have to be more than “not enemies,” we have to be restored to friendship. And since we have been given the ministry of reconciliation, we have to do more than forgive our neighbor, we have to seek the good of those we are reconciled with.

Your relationships are connected

When we experience a deep friendship relationship in one area of our life we will tend to have more positive relationships in the rest of our life. Ultimately, if we focus on our reconciled, connected relationship with God, we will have more relational continuity in our interpersonal relationships. Since people are made in the image of God, being reconciled to God should mean that we feel a relational reconciliation with His image. When we experience unconditional, reconciling friendship in our lives, we are able to have deep, reconciling relationships in other areas of our lives. And when we live a reconciling life, we are able to be more than apathetic about other people’s existence, we are able to be friends.