God has reconciled us unto Himself. He has forgiven us and has taken away all our sins. The shedding of His blood as the redemptive work at Calvary has made our transformation possible. The questions that confront all of us are, “If God has reconciled us, why can’t we reconcile with others? How can we love God, whom we have not seen, and not love those whom we see every day?” (1 John 4:20). We would be lost in our sins without God’s forgiveness. Think about the times the Lord has forgiven you and poured His great love onto you. It will cause your mind to move from thinking about what others have done, to thinking about the love of God. In 2 Corinthians 5:18, we find these words:

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”

It was God who initiated Paul’s conversion. God stepped into his life, reconciled Paul to Himself, and gave him the ministry of reconciliation. This message of reconciliation is what Paul preached. Every proclaimer of the gospel has received God’s gift of reconciliation. This is the central message that we proclaim in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Prayerfully, we have all received this in our hearts and we are living out the message of reconciliation.