Monday, October 20, 2008

Are We There Yet?

Background:-

Last weekend my friend Jaico asked me “Do you know what reconciliation is?”… At that instance I told him something about how the process of reconciliation happens from a Bank’s point of view – It’s from what I learned from my Dad – He worked in “Inter Branch Reconciliation (IBR)” for more than 8 years. I shared some of the terms that my dad used to tell me about reconciliation and its process…
When I was laying in my bed, that same question to my mind… I ignore and went to sleep… This Sunday at Church, Rev. John Prasad take following lines from Romans-5 and discuss about the same…
After reaching home I thought about these 5 lines … Made me to write something about Reconciliation…


Romans ­- Chapter 5
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
God.
3 And not only, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that
tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience,
hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

We have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us - since we have been made right in God's sight by faith.
Faith - Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand.
Because of our faith we stand confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.
We can also rejoice, when we run into sufferings and trials, for we know that they are good for us to produce endurance.
And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation and brings us hope.
And this hope or expectation will not disappoint us.
For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love by dying on the cross for our sins.
Because of all Jesus has done for us, we live out thankful lives full of gratitude to God each day.
At the worst of times, we know that Jesus stands beside us...
Justification is God’s free gift and it comes in a package and which is received by the believer at the moment of salvation - peace with God, access and a standing in grace, received reconciliation.
We can for sure rejoice because of all of these blessings and benefits.

So what is reconciliation?

The meaning of reconciliation is the establishment of friendly relations between parties who are in conflict or disagreement with each other.
Compare this to Jesus. Jesus died for us when we were wicked. He did not die for us when we were righteous. He did not die for us when we were good.
That is also one word that sums up the meaning of the Lord's Supper. In Christ, we are reconciled to God.
God reconciled us to Himself through the death of His Son though we were enemies, though we were wicked.

Conclusion: -

Suffering-produces-endurance and endurance-produces-character and character-produces-hope and hope do not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. As we eat and drink we need to remember something
Always be thankful to God.