“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18)

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God has a door of reconciliation that the apostle Paul wrote passionately about in his letter to the church in Corinth. At His initiative and because of His infinite love, God exchanged the broken relationship with humans for a restored relationship through Christ’s death on the cross. We were far away from God, but in His mercy He didn’t leave us there. He offers us restoration with Himself, “not counting people’s sins against them”. Justice was fulfilled when “God made Jesus who had no sin to be sin for us,” so that in Him we could be at peace with God.

Once we accept God’s hand in peace, we’re given the important task of bringing that message to others. We represent the amazing, loving God who offers complete forgiveness and restoration to everyone who believes.

Daily Questions

1. What does God’s offer of reconciliation mean to you?
2. How will you extend His offer to those who need to hear it today?

Daily Thoughts

God, thank You for not leaving us in a place of no hope, separated from you forever. Thank You that the sacrifice of Your beloved Son, Jesus, has provided the way for all of us to come to You.

2 Corinthians 5: 14-21

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Bonus Information

A key element of this important text is found in verse 20: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” Tyndal Bible Dictionary defines an ambassador as a “messenger or envoy officially representing a higher authority.” It explains that an ambassador in the Old Testament was “a messenger, envoy, or negotiator sent on a special, temporary mission as an official representative of the king, government, or authority who sent him.” This description gives us a valuable backdrop to the challenge to Paul and to us to be God’s ambassadors to our world. Our mission in life is to officially represent the highest of all possible authorities, the Creator of the universe, and to present His message to those we encounter in His name.