Working It Out

For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

Romans 5:10

I love a good love story. Most women do! I do not, though, like to work-things-out when there’s been a conflict. That’s a relationship skill I’ve continue to work on. Years have passed, but I’ll never forget the six weeks of long silence from my fiancé. I wondered if I had made a mistake saying ‘yes’ to the proposal in the mountain chapel only two months earlier. Why hadn’t I heard from him? He traveled with a Christian band and consistently called and wrote—the days before cell phones, face-time and texting! As the days mounted, my angst and anger also grew. If we were to have a future marriage, reconciliation would definitely need to take place.

The call finally came. A painful and debilitating back injury had sidelined him. Rather than calling for sympathy, he hid his embarrassment at being less than manly in his fiancé’s eyes. After hearing my tears and wounding, he quickly realized he’d made a serious error in judgement and apologized profusely. We worked it out. We reconciled. Our relationship was reconciled through one phone call and shared hearts.

The reconciliation that God accomplished for us when we were His enemies required far more than a phone call and an apology. It cost Him the death of His Son. His death allowed for the process of reconciliation that God used to bring me back into relationship with him. It literally changed my relationship to God by what it accomplished in both directions. Christ’s death appeased God’s anger and His judgement of sin. It also transformed me from an enemy into an adopted daughter! That’s a lot of theological implication wrapped up in that fourteen letter word. It’s simple yet also profoundly incomprehensible that God would love me enough to come up with a plan to reconcile our relationship.

Dear Father, thank you for wanting to repair our relationship that my sin had broken. Thank you for making a way for it to be reconciled, even at such great cost to you. I am thankful to no longer be your enemy but, instead, your daughter. Amen

Linda L