It had been two years.
Two years since we’d sat together to catch up, and this time it was different. This time, we sat together without talking about grievances, hard things, uncomfortable things – painful things even, like we had out of necessity in a tough season just a few years prior. We’d both been on deep, long, and at times, arduous, individual journeys with God, changing, transforming, wrestling, healing and growing deeper roots in Him, separately. It hadn’t been easy for either of us, as it turned out, but sitting there on the couch in her Brooklyn home felt just right. God really does make all things new.
I was nervous as I walked from the subway to her front door, praying with every step I took. Would we drag up the past, or had we both healed and changed enough to have grace for one another to move forward? Would we see each other through God’s eyes or through the pain of our past?
Turns out, it was through God’s eyes.
One thing that rang true in our conversation was that God is all about reconciliation – the promise that we’d be reconciled to Him and to one another. There were laughter and tears (mostly on my end- I’m such a crier). The Gospel, at its core, is about reconciling the entire world to God, the Father of all life. He sent His one and only Son to redeem, restore and reconcile us to His heart. It’s His plan that we would all walk in our true identity, looking to Him, the One whose image we’re created in.
As I sat on that L-shaped couch, across from this old friend, I saw the beginnings of new life, the glory of God manifesting right there in that Brooklyn home. New beginnings. New life. New hope. New horizons. NEW.
It’s not always easy to get there. For Jesus, the entry point was death on a cross followed by a wrestle with all of hell for the reconciliation of humanity. But on that third day, when the world had lost hope in their human plan of what they’d thought was meant to be, Jesus took the keys that held us bound to sin, death and destruction and rose from the grave, defeating its power with complete and total authority. He is the resurrection and the life that makes all things new.
There is no other Gospel but death and resurrection. First Jesus’ death and resurrection, and then our own as we die to ourselves and are resurrected in His life as a new creation.
It is for His glory that we reconcile with Him and are reconciled to one another. It is for His glory that we seek to reconcile the wrongs in this world, establishing His Kingdom of light and love in their place. Word to the wise, you’re in for a fight (the right kind, though!) because it is territory that the enemy has been squatting on, and it’s not his. Remember whose name is on the title and deed. That’s right, it’s YOUR name, because it’s your inheritance as a child of God. So go ahead, child of God – place your foot on it.
I don’t know what needs to be reconciled in your life today, but Jesus kicked down the door of death and defeated it completely so that you can walk in His resurrection power. You may need to die to yourself, your way, your plan, your blueprint, but just remember – there is resurrection on the other side of death.
As my friend said in a post on Facebook after we caught up,
“Don’t stop at forgiveness if reconciliation is in your grasp. Being right will never be as fulfilling as being together. Be like Elsa and #letitgo”
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 TPT
“17 Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new. 18 And God has made all things new, and reconciled us to himself, and given us the ministry of reconciling others to God. 19 In other words, it was through the Anointed One that God was shepherding the world, not even keeping records of their transgressions, and he has entrusted to us the ministry of opening the door of reconciliation to God. 20 We are ambassadors of the Anointed One who carry the message of Christ to the world, as though God were tenderly pleading with them directly through our lips. So we tenderly plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Turn back to God and be reconciled to him.” 21 For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.”
