God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others. Therefore, we are Christ’s representatives, and through us God is calling you. We beg you on behalf of Christ to become reunited with God.
2 Corinthians 5:19–20
G od’s goal for the lives of his children is restoration. He wants them to be reconciled, or restored, to himself and to one another. Restoration means moving away from being enemies and back to becoming friends again. Before you accepted Christ you were an enemy to God, but once you turned to him and confessed your need for him to forgive all the mess-ups of your past, you became his friend.
But reconciliation isn’t just about you and God. If a friend or a family member is on your outs list because of something between you, they need reconciliation as well. Anything else and you are rejecting God’s call to love your neighbor as yourself and even to love your enemies. Something terrible, even sinful, may have come between you, but forgiveness is required in the life of a believer (see Matt. 6:15; Mark 11:25; Luke 17:3).
Reconciliation is like pulling off a bandage: best done quickly. Don’t wait to talk to someone who has something against you, but go to them as soon as you realize the problem. Work things out before it’s too late. When a sister in the faith is mad at you or hurt by you, there’s no time to waste; you’ve got to do your best, in humility, to talk to her and work things out. As a God Girl you should know that whether you’ve been hurt, slandered, gossiped about, or judged, you are called to go to your sister or brother and do what you can to make things right. Sometimes that might mean apologizing when it’s really the other person who should be apologizing. After all, what’s more important, obedience to God’s Word or proving that you were right?