Be reconciled to God so that you can be reconciled to others.
SHAUNA: Do you know someone who is estranged from a family member? Well then Joni has a timely word for you!
JONI: Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I know several. One friend [I'll call her Donna] has not spoken to her mother in decades. Now, Donna professes Christ; she attends BSF; she loves her church, and she talks freely about her relationship with Jesus. Yet, she feels that too much bad blood has passed between her and her mother. And frankly, I think she is still a little resentful of her mother’s divorce from her dad whom she loves dearly. As a child, Donna lived with her mother until she remarried– she had a very unhappy childhood, Donna did. And was glad when she was able to leave her mother and stepfather and go to college. That was more than 25 years ago, and I do not believe Donna has reached out to her mother since.
Something about this whole scenario doesn’t sit right. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, or maybe I can. Because after all, the Bible says to honor our father and our mother; it’s the only command that has a promise linked to it, a promise for long life. And then, recently as I was reading in Colossians, where I stopped at chapter 4; Paul says: “My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark.” Now stop because that comment about Mark really caught my eye. You see, many years earlier, back in Acts 15, Mark had been the center of a huge dispute between Paul and Barnabas – they even went their separate ways because Paul felt that Mark had let them down. He thought Mark could not be trusted.
But that was then. Now, years later, Paul was in prison. Age and suffering had softened him, and the friendship between he and Mark had been wondrously restored! You even get the sense that Mark was a great help to Paul while he was in prison. You know, something about that little snippet of scripture in Colossians was, to me, a great relief because the story did not end with enmity between Paul and Mark. Their relationship was healed, and although we do not know who reached out to who, you’ve got to know that God loves reconciliation, especially between two followers of Jesus.
And he loves reconciliation between you and, well let’s say, an unbelieving neighbor or a co-worker, or an old college friend, or even a family member like Donna’s. Because forgiveness and reconciliation is such a powerful metaphor for how Christ has reconciled us sinners to himself. Martin Luther once said, “Christ took our sins and the sins of the whole world as well as the Father’s wrath on his shoulders, and he has drowned them both in himself so that we are thereby reconciled to God.” Oh friend, if Christ has done all that for us, especially when we could have cared less about him, then can we not – cannot my friend Donna – extend that same favor to those who have offended us? It’s my prayer for Donna, and it’s my prayer for you.
Because maybe you are the one in a strained relationship: your husband is distant, you and your sister are no longer speaking, maybe you just had a dispute with a neighbor over trash cans or parking on the street in front of your house. If so, please ask the Lord to work in your heart, and in theirs. Remember the story of Mark and Paul and know how precious reconciliation is to the Lord. The cross is the ultimate evidence that there is no length the love of God will refuse to go in effecting reconciliation. So, friend, be reconciled to God so that you can be reconciled to others.
© Joni and Friends