Reconciliation

Happy September 1st! Today is the day I begin my internship; it is also a day of reconciliation.

rec⋅on⋅cile

  [rek-uhn-sahyl] verb, -ciled, -cil⋅ing.

1.	to win over to friendliness; cause to become amicable: to reconcile hostile persons.

2.	to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.).

3.	to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent: to reconcile differing statements; to reconcile accounts.

4.	to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, cemetery, etc.).

5.	to restore (an excommunicate or penitent) to communion in a church.

Paul talks about reconciliation to the Corinthians in the second book:

¹⁵And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We 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. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be a sin offering for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:15, 17-21 (emphasis added)

God gave us the ministry of reconciliation! As a soon-to-be therapist, this is music to my ears. My clients can be restored! Even bigger than that, this offers hope: if broken communities, broken bones, broken lives can be restored, then broken hearts can also be reconciled...

There is no wound too deep that cannot be healed by the blood Christ shed for us on the cross. His love is the reason why our sins can be forgiven. Jesus' sacrifice is the reason why we are purified from our unrighteousness. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation.