[I]n Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them….
2 Corinthians 5:19
Speaking about his calling from God, Paul says it came within the context of God’s work of reconciliation. In that context, God called Paul to a ministry of reconciliation. We could say much about this work of reconciliation, but I want to limit my scope to a single point.
All people need to be reconciled to God!
To put it simply, we’ve all trespassed against God. We’ve all willfully offended His holiness by choosing to disobey Him. For that reason, every single one of us is out of favor with God and in debt to Him. We need to deal with our debt. We need to regain His favor. But our debt is so large that we can never repay it.
Is there any hope? Yes! That’s why I didn’t say that all people need to reconcile themselves to God. We can’t. But God, in Christ, was in Paul’s day and is in our day, reconciling the world to himself.
In Christ, Our Debt is Paid!
In Christ, our debt is being paid and God’s favor is being restored. Isn’t that incredible? It is literally a life-giving act on God’s part. All we have to do is accept it, which means we must accept that we need it.
If you need it, receive it. If you’ve received it, offer it to someone else!
