Many years
ago, in play, someone grabbed my right index finger and bent it in the wrong direction. We were goofing around. It was not anything unkind. It was an accident. Today as I type that finger still hurts
reminding me of the moment and many years of subsequent discomfort. I feel neither anger nor resentment toward
the incident or toward the individual relative to that incident. A simple unintentional act has caused discomfort
for the rest of my life. I rarely talk
about the pain but it reminds me of something so important every day.
You see
people are going to hurt us. It will
either be by intent or not. The harm
will be temporary or permanent. The pain
will either be minor or great. Whether
the damage is physical or emotional the requirement is the same. I am supposed to live out Christ’s message of
reconciliation by constantly treating the offences of others with love, grace,
and mercy. I am so in need of the aforementioned
from Christ I cannot dare withhold if form others.
The results
of not dealing in grace and mercy for the purpose of reconciliation are
vast. Friends part ways instead of
forgiving each other. Families live in
strife and discord because someone refuses to reconcile and restore. Marriages end because a heart becomes hard
toward a spouse and Christ’s call to live peaceably. Failure to reconcile leaves fissures in
relationships that make following Christ difficult.
Ultimately
the purpose of all four of the commitments is reconciling to God. We are the ones who have originally rejected
him. I am the one who chooses my own
will over his desire for me to follow his Son with all my heart. So I must be the
one who commits to his Sovereignty over all that I am. I must be the one who makes every thought,
emotion, and action an attempt to offer worship to God. I must see the needs of the body as more
vital than my individual wants in every situation. I must do all that I do to work toward
journeying toward God with a reconciled heart.
It is after
all my sin that refused to acknowledge my Lord, failed to worship him, causes
division in the body, and creates the need for reconciliation. It is God’s blood that drew the path back to
God for me so that I could call him Lord, worship him, work toward unity, and
some day experience a reconciled relationship to God.
When the
Father’s Wisdom wanted to communicate His love,
He spoke it
in one final perfect Word.
He spoke the
Incarnation and then so was born the Son.
His final
word was Jesus, He needed no other one.
Spoke flesh
and blood so He could bleed and make a way Divine.
And so was
born the baby who would die to make it mine. – Michael Card
Wishing you
joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So
Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of
Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new
and old things from his great treasure store."
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