From Alienation to Reconciliation

14) We are ruled by Christ's love for us.  We are certain that if one person died for everyone else, then all of us have died. 15) And Christ did die for all of us. He died so we would no longer live for ourselves, but for the one who died and was raised to life for us.  16) We are careful not to judge people by what they seem to be, though we once judged Christ in that way. 17) Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. 18) God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others.  19) What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. 20) We were sent to speak for Christ, and God is begging you to listen to our message. We speak for Christ and sincerely ask you to make peace with God. 21) Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God.  ~ 2Cor. 5: 14-21 (CEV)

Separation, rejection, and alienation are unpleasant experiences that we usually try to avoid at all costs. But we live in a fallen world, so we cannot totally escape them.


Isolation from other people is bad enough, but what’s worse is that many individuals live apart from the heavenly Father. How tragic and futile life must be when it is spent completely detached from its Creator. God planted within each of us a desire to be in relationship with Him, so until we find our connection to Him, we will always feel that something is missing.

And yet as crucial as that relationship is to our well-being, something stands in its way: Whether by our thoughts or actions, we have all violated the Lord’s commands (Rom. 3:23), and our pure, holy God cannot be in the presence of sin. Romans 6:23 states that the penalty for sin is death, which is an eternal separation from the Lord. Therefore, we will always have a void.

What a bleak outlook for mankind! But our loving Father solved the dilemma by sending His Son to pay our penalty. Fully God and fully man, Jesus lived the perfect life, took all our iniquity upon Himself, and died a gruesome death on the cross. No longer are we condemned for our wrongs, because Christ took our place. And three days later, He victoriously rose to life.


Salvation is available to anyone who believes and receives this remarkable gift. John 3:16 describes how reconciliation puts an end to our alienation: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

If you died today, can you be absolutely sure that you would go to heaven? The Bible says you can through faith in the shed blood of Christ. His blood redeems us, blots out our sins, restores fellowship with the Father, establishes peace and blessings in this life as well as the next. What is the foundation of your faith? As for me, "On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all else is sinking sand!"
 
[via Pastor Charles Stanley]
 
Be Blessed!
 
Dawn