Reconciling

2 Corinthians 5:18, 20
All of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. We are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" (NLT)

How difficult it is for us to be reconciled to others with whom we have had issues in our past. According to Encarta, to reconcile means to bring two or more people back into communications with each other after a dispute or estrangement and return them to a friendly relationship.

We know we need to forgive others for any past wrongs and ask them for forgiveness from ours. That is not reconciliation; that is forgiveness. We cannot have reconciliation without forgiveness occurring first.

Now that we are believers, God has given us the task of reconciling people to Him. Sure, you say, that all sounds good, but I am not God. How can I speak for Him? We have to. As Christ's ambassadors, we have the right and the authority to speak on God's behalf. He makes His appeal to them through us.

How can they be reconciled if they never believed, you say. They knew God before they were born. They still had communications with Him when they were in the womb and after they were born. Life on this earth in our human form takes us away from God. We need to come back to Him. And we are the vessel God uses to tell others about Him. We have been given the task of reconciling others to Him.