Are You a Minister of Reconciliation?

In 2 Corinthians 5: 18 we are told this by Paul: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

Let's look deeper at this passage by looking at it in relationship to the verses before and after it and then apply it to our lives.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. 12 We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.  14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

We are told that we are to be new creatures once we accept Jesus as our savior. That does not mean we instantly overcome all of our hurts, wounds and sins but it does mean we are actively working on them. 

We are told that we become ministers of reconciliation. Which means we are to take the risk of reconciling with people who are honestly seeking our forgiveness and who are pursuing reconciliation with us. It is a risk because it means we open ourselves up to being hurt again by trusting someone who hurt us before. 

If you have felt the sting of having another person break your trust you no doubt have a wound in your spirit from the experience. If that person comes to you and apologizes and wants to reconcile you have the obligation to take the risk to at least begin the process of reconciliation.

You have the right to evaluate the intentions of the other person and stop the process if they appear to not be honest in their intentions. You do not have the right to ignore them as they reach out to you.

If Jesus is your savior He has reconciled you to God and by doing so has made you a minister of reconciliation to others. Failure to respond to another person's cry for reconciliation becomes a roadblock to your blessings that result from reconciliation.

I encourage you to consider the request for reconciliation from a person who has hurt. Pray about it. Seek counseling about it. But do not ignore the person's cry. You harm not only the other person by yourself and the blessings God has in store for you when you reconcile.

If you are a pastor and you are not reaching out to someone who has hurt you and seeking reconciliation then you are missing an opportunity to show the church this passage in action. As leaders we are to model the Bible not just teach it.

I will be honest with you about what stirred this post. I broke the trust of another person. The Holy Spirit convicted me of my actions and I have apologized not only to the person but to others who might have been harmed. I have offered to meet and talk and rebuild our relationship. Notice I did not say rebuild trust because I know that is harder to do. I have received no response from this individual except for them to remind me of my sin. 

In my blog I write about my experiences and the wounds I have. I have been wounded by leaders who fail to be leaders. I have been wounded by men who say one thing to the church but live a different way. Ignoring my cry for reconciliation by a man who is suppose to be a leader only reinforces the experiences I have had with leaders. Many years ago I told my brother I would never lead people in the way that those past leaders led me. This experience only reinforces that pledge.

I hope this touches both those who have been offended and those who have offended. Do not put off doing what the Holy Spirit through Paul instructed us to do. Be a minister of reconciliation.