Seeds of Reconciliation

Despite our contrasting views of who God is and what He is like, most people relate to the expression, “finding peace with God.” Now if we can identify with the quest to find such peace—or the jubilation of having done so—then the sense of separation from God must also be an experience common to humanity, for our shared pursuit of peace with God exposes the discord that exists between us in the first place.¹

This excerpt from my first book, Christ in Me, observes the universal quest of finding peace with God. How striking its timelessness, for Augustine’s confession from centuries ago still speaks for us today: “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find peace in you.”² Oh, how we strive to close the gap between us. Yet the One we seek is more intent restoring us to Himself than we are. As I continued in Christ in Me, “Are we troubled by the separation between us? It bothers Him even more, not as One who needs us, but as One who loves us; not as One who is helpless to unite us, but as the only One who can bring us peace.”³

We have begun a short series on “seeds that bear fruit”—Scriptures that speak truth to the human condition while proclaiming God’s liberating grace in its various forms. We began last week with three Bible passages that both declare the gravity of our sin and proclaim God’s provision of forgiveness through Christ Jesus. Today, let’s absorb two passages that simultaneously acknowledge our separation from God and celebrate His loving initiative of reconciliation.

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:12-13 NIV

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. Colossians 1:21-22 NIV

Meditate on these verses this week; memorize these words of restoration. Blend them into your own story of reconciliation with God through sacrificial death and life-bearing resurrection of Jesus Christ. They may become words of life to a restless heart seeking to find peace with God.

Father, thank You for Your seeking, finding and uniting love. So fill us with gratitude and joy that we would readily and eagerly share the message of reconciliation with those who are separated from You. In Christ we pray. Amen.

¹ Paul Nordman, Christ in Me, (Maitland, Florida: Xulon Press), 29.
² Augustine, Saint Bishop of Hippo, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, trans. Rex Warner. (New York: The New American Library, 1963), 17.
³ Nordman, Christ in Me, 29.