Episode 316: I’m Talkin. . .Reconciliation

I’m Talking, episode 316 for May 5th, 2024.

This is Joel from the I’m Talking microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week, we’re talking reconciliation.

Reconciliation is clearly not just a church word.

This is a word you could hear fairly regularly, maybe just about anywhere, but it is a very important word for the church and the Christian community.

I looked at a definition, and I like the idea.

It says, the restoration of a relationship to a harmonious state after a dispute.

And I like that definition.

That seems like what the world would use as a definition for reconciliation.

But therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

So the reason that definition is a challenge for Christians is because it almost feels like a two-sided event, like two parties who have a dispute have agreed to reconcile their differences, and so the reconciliation of that relationship has been restored, and it’s a harmonious state.

But that’s not what happens in the Christian world.

Reconciliation is a one-sided street.

It is really the work of Christ on the cross that allows us to have that harmonious relationship with a holy God.

And there’s really nothing we can do to accomplish that.

We have been offered a gift of eternal life, of believing Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and then the fact that he died for our sins as a means and the only way of reconciling us as sinners to a holy, perfect God.

And so it’s not a two-way street.

It’s not something we did to deserve a harmonious relationship.

It’s not something that we do to create a harmonious relationship.

It is a gift that is given because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

So this is an important church word in that essence.

And the problem we have in the world is we often don’t know what’s broken.

And so as Christians, we know the relationship that is broken.

We know the importance of that relationship, and we know how to fix it.

And that’s through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.

There’s only one way that it works, and that’s through the blood of Jesus Christ and our accepting what he did on the cross for us.

And I think this is kind of, at least in the order that I’ve done these words, kind of the final linchpin.

I think we’ve covered everything building up to this, and not that this is the most important word, because it clearly is not.

Because all of the words that we’ve talked about to this point are important.

All of it has to do with a relationship with a holy God and a sinful man.

And I am just thankful for the work that Christ did on the cross to give me eternal life and to provide reconciliation between a holy God and a sinful Joel.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.