Friday, January 16, 2009

God our Father

With so much unforgiveness around us, I’m reminded of our Father’s work of reconciliation. One clear verse about this is Colossians 1:20b – “…and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” (NLT)

I’m impressed with the scope of God’s plan of salvation through Christ. Our Father initiated it in reconciling us to Himself by adopting us as His dear children. This makes us joint heirs with Christ and brothers to Jesus because we now have the same Father as Jesus. The Father’s work of reconciliation has tremendous benefits for us. One of them is being at peace with Him:

Romans 5:1 – “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s (Father’s) sight by faith, we have peace with God (Father) because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” (NLT)

I find this wonderful truth in the Lord’s Supper as seen in:

1 Corinthians 11:25 – “…This cup is the new covenant between God and his people – an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.”(NLT) This new covenant between our Father and us is eternal. How blessed we are in this! The new covenant is the result of His marvelous reconciliation of us through Christ.

The more we appreciate God’s reconciliation the more we’ll be able to forgive others totally. Col.3:13b – “…Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (NLT)

These are good daily reminders for us in walking with God.