Reconciliation

For we have been reconciled to Christ we are no longer slaves to the ways of this world we are slaves to the ways of God. (A personal paraphrase of Romans 6:17-19)

My pastor shared tonight of a man who was on an island fighting for Japan in World War Two. The man was so loyal to his mission that when people sent word to him that the war was over he did not believe them and thought it was a trap. You see everyone on the island had surrendered except for three people. The thing is the man ended up fighting for thirty years after the war was over because he was hidden in that island and he saw every attempt that people made to inform him that the war was finished, as a trap. He even killed 30 innocent people because of it. When someone was finally able to reach out to this man and peacefully inform him that the war had been long finished, the man was so sad that he had missed out on thirty years. 

This story is so sad, frustrating, and disappointing because this man fought for so long against himself and he didn't even know it.

Sisters, God has already won the war, it's over. This is not a trap. Stop fighting and believe the truth! Come, enjoy the peace. Jesus has already took your place. Now surrender to him, and enjoy life ABUNDANTLY!!!! (Romans 5:17)

Colossians 1:21-23New International Version (NIV)

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 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— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

2 Corinthians 5:19-21The Message (MSG)

16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19New International Version (NIV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Sisters, don't miss out on the victory celebration. 

Thirty years is far too long to miss.

Hillary