To Encourage You

Romans 5:6 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”

Everyone knows that oil and water don’t mix.  It’s because in their fundamental properties that they have what you could say are irreconcilable differences.  Some people don’t mix so well either.  And while people talk about their irreconcilable differences, the fact is that, unlike oil and water, it’s not that they can’t be reconciled. It’s that they won’t be reconciled. It’s a choice that they’ve made to remain at odds with each other. 

But did you know that man, in his fundamental nature, has irreconcilable differences with God.  God is light while man is in darkness. God is holy, while man is not.  God is spiritually alive, while man, in his natural condition, is spiritually dead. The Bible tells us that men are actually “alienated from God and . . . enemies in (their) minds as evidenced by their evil behavior” (Colossians 1:21).  As preposterous as it might seem, men (and women) all violate God’s law by choice.  Although everything good in our life has always and only been provided by God, and although the laws He has given to us have all been given to us for our own good, we refuse to obey.  It’s the most obvious evidence that our relationship with our Creator is broken.

Sadly, as the verse above tells us, we are powerless to do anything about it.  Even if we would want to be reconciled (and we don’t) there is absolutely nothing on earth that we can do to bridge this irreconcilable gulf.  Incredibly, however, God has taken the initiative to make a way for his enemies to be at peace with him. Although we had absolutely no way to approach a holy God (either physically, for he is in heaven and we are on earth, or spiritually), He bridged the gulf with man by taking on Himself the form of a man and coming to us. He did this for one reason; so that, as a man, He could bear the penalty of death that is the only true justice for our breathtaking rebellion and defiance of His law.  Yes, Christ, God the Son, died for the ungodly!  That’s the message of the gospel. It’s the message that the enemies of God can be reconciled to Him.  It’s all summed for us in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 which says, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So, if you don’t know Christ, if you are still His enemy, do you want to be reconciled?  It’s the marvelous message of the gospel that we can have peace with God, not because of anything we can do, but because of what God has done to make it all possible.  It’s the message of “Glory to God in the highest” for God has done all that is necessary for those on earth to have peace with Him (Luke 2:14).  As the writers of the Scriptures, inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, have said “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”