Reconciliation

We are all looking for reconciliation in one way or another, with someone or something.

What it Looks Like Outside our Door

The state of the world that we live in is one that is so disjointed, so out of whack, and so far from what it was intended to be like. I continue to read current events from every corner of the world and the consensus is that the present is not quite in a stable place. There are forces at odds with one another across the world. Many are fighting for what justly belongs to them. Many are fighting against foes that they know as foes simply because they have always been foes. Why can't we just listen to John Lennon and "give peace a chance"? It is because the peace that we envision is in many ways, misguided, self-centered, alienating, unjust, and is no real peace at all. Sorry John, but we gave peace a chance and it does not work out. This is in no way a new occurrence. Almost the entirety of the earth's existence has been categorized by conflict. So why do we have this seeming inherent longing for peace and reconciliation when we were born into conflict and we are surrounded by despair, hatred, strife, and anything but unity? If you do not feel this is what the world looks like, you may need to unlock your door and venture outside once in a while. Or look truly deep within yourself and you likely will not like what you see. Why? Could it be that this is not how we are meant to live and this is not what the world is supposed to look like. Do you long for something grander for you life or for your world? You are not alone. We all have, in some way or another some understanding that things are out of whack and we long for more.

The Solution

So why do we all have a seemingly inherent longing for a better world? Could it be that we are awaiting and are meant for another one. As the great C.S. Lewis puts it “If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world”. The beauty of this other world is that it's not difficult to access, but is impossible to fully comprehend. It does not require you to change the world first, but instead to have your world changed. This was the case in my life. After living for myself (selfishly) and within my own world for so long I got kind of lonely in there. When you only see the world through your own eyes you miss what is going on around you. I had no desire to change the world. I just wanted my world changed, because I was pretty miserable living in it. I did not want to be any longer. God, through his wisdom, took my life, but not in the way I had envisioned. He changed my world for His and my sake and now I am committed to changing the world we live in for His and our sake. Sometimes the first step is finally giving up and realizing how little strength and power you have in and of yourself. Through understanding God's call for your life, this world, and what He is doing about it one can better understand what changing the world takes.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 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." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

So you can take the John Mayer approach and 'wait on the world to change' or you can get a vision for what the world once perfectly was and will be again and get your hands dirty. So changing yourself is a huge part of changing your world. As Socrates so beautifully put it, "the unexamined life is not worth living". And as Leo Tolstoy so truly puts it, "everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

A Call to Revolution

We are called to a revolution or a 'turn around'. Revolution in its purest form is not what you see on TV everyday. Revolution comes from a pre Judeo-Christian context in which the world was always seen in the realm of cycles (agricultural seasons, calendar cycles, etc.) and not as being linear. The world was seen in a revolving way. So revolution was going back to the beginning in a cycle. In the same way we are called to be agents of catalyzing change. Not going back in the sense of digression but instead in the sense ascendancy. The world was once in a great and perfect form, but that did not last for too long. Human's striving away from perfect reconciliation has separated us from our Creator God, our surrounding world, and the people we live, see, and work with everyday. Reconciliation is accessible today. Are you willing to realize that you have ownership in the brokenness of the world? We see despotic leaders, suicide bombers, murderers, degenerates, and hopeless individuals in the news and on our streets. Are we willing to see such people as people just like us and if we were able to understand the worlds they grew up in, in themselves and understand why they are the way they are we can likely empathize on the deepest human level. Everyone is striving for change in themselves or in their world. Have you ever thought something in your life or in your world was not fair? Well the world is not fair and it is in a rough place, but life is good for many of us because of God's common grace or as the result of the merciful saving grace of God.

Battle for Reconciliation

Before you take to the streets in angered mis-guided revolution, go to the deepest streets of the infrastructure within your heart and soul and start the battle for reconciliation there. Surrender there and realize your brokenness and need for reconciliation at its deepest level. If you earnestly search for it, you just may find God's ministry of reconciliation awaiting you there.

A Call to Join

Then you can join me and the millions around the world who are earnestly trying to painstakingly refine themselves daily and fully know what reconciliation of self, relationships, world, and reconciliation with God can look like. Do you care to join us? You do not have to do it on your own, in fact you cannot do it own your own.