The Key to Peace
Reconciliation
In today’s social environment, I can not think of a more important topic than reconciliation. We all need to be reconciled to God and every one of our neighbors — near and far.
Bob Lonac Reconciliation is both a universal command and also a personal calling for each one of us. We need reconciliation with anyone with whom we have strained or broken relationships, regardless of how they may be different from us.
Would you like a real-life example of reconciliation? I share a deeply personal experience about how reconciliation helped me grow closer to Jesus in chapter 5 of my new book, Live Large!
What Would Motivate Us to Embark on a Peace-Making Mission?
Love is our motivation.
II Corinthians 5:14 has many different translations, each one beautiful:
For the love of Christ controls us
The very spring of our actions is the love of Christ.
For the love of Christ constraineth us
Christ’s love controls us now.
Christ’s love compels us.
What Should We Do?
We love, not only for ourselves but for others. Again, we can look to several different translations for guidance. The following are all from II Corinthians 5:15:
He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Now, the power that has planned this experience for us is God, and he has given us his Spirit as a guarantee of its truth. This makes us confident, whatever happens.
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.
This is what God has prepared for us, and as a guarantee, he has given us his Holy Spirit.
Now, the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Reconciliation, correctly applied, does not only encompass good relations. It is also the doing away of hostility, the bringing of a quarrel to an end. It implies the two parties being reconciled were formerly hostile to one another.
I hope this motivates us all to reconcile our broken relationships!
A win-win in all our dealings with others bring peace and satisfaction to both sides of the relationship. You win, and they win! And we could all use some wins right now.
