Corona Devo 185

Reconciliation is a big word, but the depth (and experience!) of its definition (the restoration of friendly relations) is even bigger.

Do you have a hurdle in between you and a friend or someone you love?  A conversation that went-awry, contrasting opinions that boiled over, or different stances that cemented your feet (and hearts) far away from each other?

Day to day we can live with the distance, but the affliction of it remains.  And repeatedly God pecks at our conscience about restoring the relationship.  Peck, peck, peck, at our ego, in feeling that we are right and justified.  Peck, peck, peck at our heart to soften in the name of love.  Peck, peck, peck in the name of sanity because the division often brings crazy-talk in our heads and instability in our lives.  

God knows that relationships are work, but He also knows that there is blessing in the process of working for healthy relationships too. When we are afflicted, God calls us to deal with the affliction and He then gives us mercy and comfort.  And He calls us to dish that mercy and comfort right back out to others.  We can give it, because we have received it.  

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.  6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. ~2 Corinthians 1:3-7

In reviewing a recent restoration of a friendship, I realized that I had wrestled for too long with myself, and kept distant from the situation and person.  And when I finally submitted my will to God's, He did some renovation work inside of me.  It hurt.  It was uncomfortable, and it was for my good.  Everything God does is.  It hurt because my pride had been blocking God's plans and He had to bulldoze some of my junk to clear the way for His Next Steps.  

I am so glad that He did.  I acknowledged my shortcomings to myself and God, and then I went to my friend. I expected a talking to, or bristled feathers or possibly a brush-off.  

But there was none of that.  There was Jesus.  There was a crumbling of pride on her side too.  There was acceptance of me, and acknowledgement of short-comings on both sides.  This is not at all how the world works, but this is exactly how God works.  

I felt a little bit like Jacob, in the Bible, who had tricked his brother Esau out of the first-born birth-right, which was a really big deal.  In a moment of hangry weakness, Esau had agreed to give Jacob (his younger brother) the honors and prestige of being the first-born, in exchange for a bowl of lentil stew.  I know that sounds like a stupid trade, but as I said, he was hangry.

When Esau had a full tummy and came to his senses, he realized that it might not have been the most fair trade.  In fact, he was so mad, he vowed to kill his sneaky brother.  Jacob ran away...for years.  And when Jacob came back, he prepared for the worst.  And, still sneaky, He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.  (~Genesis 33:2) and then Jacob.  He feared that Esau still wanted to kill him.

But there was none of that.  There was Jesus. 

 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ~Genesis 33:4

Reconciliation.  It feels like that.  Like a warm embrace after distance for way-too-long.  Like the contentment of resting your head on the neck of someone you love.  Like a kiss of acceptance and friendship and truce and family--all rolled into one.  And it brings a joy so deep that it causes your soul to weep in the joy of it.  Reconciliation is like that.

All of those things are what God has for us when we choose to restore damaged relationships in our lives.  The response of the other person may vary, and whether or not they know the Lord will most likely affect their response.  But our side of the deal doesn't change.  If we repent, request forgiveness and have a heart change, then God will lift or shift the affliction and how it affects us.  And once you've been a part of that, it gives you the experience to be able to comfort others.

(God) comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction...  ~2 Corinthians 1:4

Reconciliation is a two-way street, but it is also a cleansing cycle and circle that the Lord will work in us and then through us if we allow Him the space.

When we are afflicted, God calls us to deal with the affliction and He then gives us mercy and comfort.  And He calls us to dish that mercy and comfort right back out to others.  We can give it, because we have received it.  

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com 

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