ThinkOnIt...Ministry of Reconciliation

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-- if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Colossians 1:21-23 NKJV

Would you be willing to die for someone else to live? Most people would answer no. Scripture says Romans 5:7-8 "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die." If your salvation depended on a human dying for you, you'd be in big trouble. Thankfully, it depends only on Jesus Christ dying for you.

Look at Romans 5:8, it says "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We were sinners, alienated, and enemies in our minds by wicked works and lack of belief. And yet, God loved us and died for us anyway!

Through Jesus' death on the cross our old sinful nature is put to death. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Romans 6:4 "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

Isaiah 61:10 says "For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness". Jesus' righteousness now covers us to present us to the Father as pure, holy, blameless and above reproach in His sight. We are made this way for a reason as 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

Colossians 1:23 "If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel", the word of reconciliation may go out to all the world, as God has purposed it. Philippians 1:27 "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel". Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."

Therefore may you be like Psalm 111:8 "They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness."