Reconciliation

“All this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18, NIV 2011).

Jacob sees me regularly for palliation of an advanced cancer. He popped in yesterday to refill his pain meds. I asked him about his life and he told me that his son and daughter had recently been home. The son had brought a grandson to visit as well.
“You know my son was mad at me and went away from me for a long time. I used to get on to him about the way he was living his life and he didn’t take it so well. But he’s come back now and we are good again.”

Reconciliation is such an “old-school” word that we don’t give it the majesty it deserves. There are other ways to say it.
“…you who once were far away have been brought near…” (Ephesians 2:13, NIV 2011).
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son…” (Luke 15:20, NIV 2011).
A father made right with his son.
A mother made right with her daughter…a sister with her brother.
I have seen it over and over again during life-threatening illnesses.
Rarely does it sink in that reconciliation is me coming home to my God because Jesus made me right again.
As my patient, Jacob, put it, “But he’s come back now and we are good again.”---Back by the pain of the cross, good by the blood of my Savior. Home again, because He found me.

Dear Father,
Thank you for finding me and bringing me home.
Amen