Truth and reconciliation
At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. (verses 21, 22)
Read Colossians 1: 15-23
Following the end of the apartheid era in South Africa, the government set up a Truth and Reconciliation Tribunal. People who had committed abuses under the apartheid regime could confess what they had done, and those who had been victims of abuse could tell their stories. There were often painful confrontations between those who had committed abuses and their victims. Sometimes there were deeply moving instances of forgiveness and reconciliation.
At one time you were an enemy of God. As a sinner you were no different in God’s eyes from a criminal. But an amazing act of reconciliation has taken place. By means of the death of his Son, God has made you his friend. There was nothing easy about this. On your part there was the pain of confronting the truth about yourself. On God’s part there was the pain of sacrificing the life of his Son.
Never forget the great sacrifice God made to make you his friend. As God’s friend, keep trying to live a life that is holy, pure and faultless.
God, thank you for making me your friend. Help me to be holy, pure and faultless in the way I treat others. Amen.
by John Pfitzner, in ‘Assurances for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2004)
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