The Ministry of Reconciliation

When I was a girl, I often wondered what this pair of verses meant. I asked many times for someone to interpret it. When I was nine, I only used the NIV. Now I do both NIV and KJV. The reason is, sometimes the translation doesn’t fit. Perhaps the meaning hasn’t been translated just right. That’s why, sometimes I will use both and sometimes I will use just one of the versions.  In this case, I am using both. Let’s start with this version of II Corinthians 5:17, 18 KJV – Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

Becoming someone who is “in” Christ, just what does that mean? It means we are the branches of the vine. You remember the parable The Vine and the Branches, also known as the True Vine in John 15, depending on the version of Scripture. When we are “in” Christ, it means we are part of Him. He lives in us, through the Spirit. Having us “in” Christ gives us a new Spirit, thus becoming a new creature, and seeing things through different eyes. We just have to remember that’s exactly what we should be doing. Look at life through new eyes, and leave the past alone. Now, it’s not an easy thing to live in the present and hope for tomorrow. Memories, bad, or good, tend to have us reminiscing, or reliving those times. That’s the thing. If we only live in our memories, we can’t see the new. We can’t hear that same new. We can’t appreciate it either. There is the reason we should remind our selves that to be “in” Christ, we have to look toward when we actually see Him, not just in our hearts, our spirits, our souls, but with our eyes, so that our minds can see hope in full color. You see, the blessing of hope comes with being a “new” man. You can see it in this view of II Corinthians 5:17, 18 NIV – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

The OLD is gone! The NEW has come! RECONCILED that’s what we are, because through Christ we can do anything, with God and Christ, everything is possible. Reconciliation proves that. Think about it this way. If you have had a good friendship and then something happens to break that friendship, but, down the road, you find common ground once more, that is reconciliation. It is the same with God and Jesus. The hardest part for all of us, is realizing what reconciliation would be, not just with others around us, friends, neighbors, colleagues, family, and more, but with God and Jesus. The more we can do to ease the sorrows, the frustration, the anger, and even to find their source, whether it be in our heart or in theirs, to find the source offers the doorway to reconciliation. It doesn’t matter who, or when it happens. What matters is that it does, even if it is in spirit. Have you been there? Think about it.

~Shalom~

Rev. Laura A. Neff ~The Rainbow Minister

Calvin Jennings ~ Elder

Covenant of Hope Ministries
http://covenantofhopeministries.blogspot.com/

Our mission for Covenant of Hope Ministries and Poetic-Expressions is not to exploit fear, but to conquer it, and overcome all that is created through fear together as the rainbow in the darkness.