A Real Reconciliation...

"All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God..."

-Ephesians 4 v 31 - 5 v 2

A lot of the time in our walks in our faith, we sometimes forget the great distance we've come. And while we may have matured in our faith and grown to be strong warriors of Christ, I'm talking about the gap that was bridged right at the very beginning of our journey.

Growing up in today's world has often made me ask the question of where I've come from. People who know me, know that I'm not the most sociable of people...in fact, quite the opposite. Part of this is because it is who God created me to be, but part of who I am today is because of where I have come from.

Right the way through primary school, I was quite severely bullied. I know if you're a follower of mine that you've probably heard me say this before, but I want to take a slightly different look at it.

There was one guy in particular who drove me up the wall. He was a mean piece of work. And I firmly believe that the way that he treated me during my primary education means that I'm the guy at parties who's wondering which one of the other guests is going to shaft him...that last sentence seems oddly familiar, so maybe I'm not taking such a different look at this.

But the one thing I know that I haven't mentioned before is bitterness. Bitterness is a terrible thing. Whereas guilt is the feeling we have when we do something wrong to someone, bitterness is the feeling we have when someone wrongs us. I was so bitter towards that person that it hurt, so much so that I'm still actually thinking about what would've happened if he had left me alone...

I should point out that the feeling of wanting justice is not bad in any sense. If something has been done wrong to you, and you believe its not right, you are sharing in the exact same feeling as God. It does become bitterness, however, when it consumes you. I'm in no way trying to belittle anything that anyone has ever done to you, but don't let it consume your life.

If bitterness does consume your life, that's a sin. As much as it may sound deserving of the person, its a sin. Because if you become bitter towards a person, you fail to love them, and you begin to love the good that can come to you out of their punishment that you long for. And I'm as big a sinner in his regard than anyone else.

All sin drives a wedge between us and God. Because God is holy, He cannot stand where there is sin, nor can He let it go unpunished.

One of the primary effects of sin is to cause a distance between us and our Heavenly Father. And because of this gap, which was created at the fall of man, we could never be one with God, nor could we ever hope to bask in His presence for eternity...

But that is where Jesus comes in. By dying on the cross for us, He has created a bridge between us and the Father, which is the only way we can get to Him;

"Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me..."

-John 14 v 6

The bridging of the gap between us and God is called to the doctrine of reconciliation. By doing so, Jesus has become our mediator between ourselves and our Heavenly Father, allowing us not only the ability to interact with Him, but to join Him in His presence.

Part of reconciliation is forgiveness, one of the key aspects of the work of the cross. And one of the things that I have struggled with over the years is the fact that because God has forgiven me, so too am I called to forgive those who have wronged me.

There is no way to break out of the cycle that comes through bitterness with our own strength. We can't, not of our own accord, because as long as we haven't experienced forgiveness, how then are we to know how to forgive? The only way the cycle can be broken is through accepting Jesus as our centre. With the forgiveness of Jesus though, we have all that it takes to forgive;

"Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. But that is not how you learned about the Messiah, assuming you heard Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus: you took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new man, the one created according to God's [likeness] in righteousness and purity of the truth..."

-Ephesians 4 v 17-24

Furthermore, through reconciling us to God, we have been born again. We have obtained new life through Jesus. When we are born again, we think, feel, act and live differently to the way we lived before obtaining the new life in Christ. And part of this life is called to forgive those who have wronged us. It is only through Jesus' death on the cross that we can truly love our neighbour;

"Since you put away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, and don't give the Devil an opportunity. The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need, in order to give grace to those who hear. And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption. All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ..."

-Ephesians 4 v 25-32

In the end, after I accepted Jesus into my life, I didn't feel any bitterness towards that person. I haven't forgotten what he did, but instead, I thank God for putting me through that ordeal, because, even though I may not be exactly who I want to be, through Jesus' death on the cross, I'm who God wants me to be, His child...and that's a whole lot better than being the life of a party...

Let Him be the Nexus of your life...