SEPTEMBER  4

RECONCILED

2 CORINTHIANS 5:17–21


“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;” (2 Cor. 5:18)

Have you ever slaved over your checkbook trying to reconcile it with your bank statement? Sometimes it seems impossible. You think there must be a mistake. But through perseverance, the error is usually found and the two records agree. They are reconciled.

Reconciled simply means “to bring into agreement, or to make the same.” When Jesus reconciled us to God, He brought us into agreement with, and made us just like, God. Some people think this is blasphemy, but that’s what this word means.

Our born-again spirits have been made completely new and are reconciled to God. Our spirits are identical. The English word reconciled was translated from the Greek word katallage, which means to “change mutually.” The word mutually means “possessed in common; as mutual interests.” Since God never changes, it was our spirits that changed to be just like His.

Some people can’t except this, because they know themselves only from carnal point of view. They look in the mirror, search their thoughts. and find obvious thoughts that aren’t like Jesus. But in your spirit – if you’re born again – you’ve been reconciled to God. Whatever God’s Spirit is like is what your born-again spirit is like. Praise the Lord!

God’s Word functions like our bank statement, with one major difference: It’s never wrong. It’s a perfect account of what’s taken place in our born-again spirits. Our spirits have been reconciled to God. Now we must reconcile our minds to what the Word says about our born-again spirits! (AW)