“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation“

2 Corinthians 5:18

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October 14, 2025

God gave the world to Adam and Eve, He gave freedom to the Israelites, and He gave blessings unnumbered to His people. But no amount of giving could erase the stain of death brought by sin and placed upon us all. Something more was needed.

So, God gave again. This time it was His most valued possession, His only son, given as a sacrifice, an atonement for Adam’s sin and the sin of everyone everywhere.

We need to recover the biblical vision of why Jesus came into the world: to reconcile us to God.

In his book What’s So Amazing About Grace, Phillip Yancey tells the real-life story of writer Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway grew up in an evangelical family, yet he lived a wild life apart from God. Alcoholism and depression haunted his life in part because he knew he had no father waiting for him at home. A short story he wrote may hint at the reconciliation he hoped for.

In this story, a Spanish father decided to reconcile with his son, who had run away to Madrid. The father, in a moment of deep yearning, took out an ad in a local newspaper. “Paco, meet me at Hotel Montana, Noon, Tuesday… all is forgiven… Papa.” When the father arrived at the hotel in hopes of meeting his son, he found eight hundred Paco’s in the nearby square waiting to be reunited with their father.

The Bible tells the parable of a young son who demanded his portion of his father’s estate, then spent it all in “wild living.” When the son returned home hungry and penniless, his father ran to him, kissed him, and threw a great party to welcome him home. He didn’t make his son work off the debt, he didn’t punish him; he fully restored him to the family. (Luke 15:11-31).

This is how God welcomes those who come home to Him.

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
(Romans 5:10-11)

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • Do you consider yourself an enemy of God in need of reconciliation? Or a child of God in a restored relationship with Him?
  • Consider the price that was paid be Jesus which allows you to be reconciled with God.
  • How can you better trust in God’s provision even in the uncertainties of life?

Church Reading Plan: 1 Kings 17; Colossians 4