I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Reconciled for a Purpose
Have you ever attempted to balance a difficult equation?
There’s a lot more to it than simply getting the right answer. You need to understand the step-by-step process if you want to be able to apply it and find new solutions in the future. In fact, most solutions in life involve a process, and the idea of reconciliation is no different.
It’s not enough to know that reconciliation is the answer to disunity and injustice, though. We have to seek to understand and actively engage in the process. Reconciliation is the hard-but-good, beautiful-yet-messy, worth-it kind of work.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, you are not only called to understand and engage in the process of reconciliation; you are thoroughly equipped to be a minister of reconciliation. Scripture affirms that every believer is a minister of reconciliation, empowered by God Himself (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).
So how do we do that? Psalm 34:14 lays out a few steps for us:
“Turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.”
Psalm 34:14
Turn from evil and do good. Turning from evil means both rejecting evil outwardly and addressing it inwardly within our own hearts. We confess the sin that caused the fracture by acknowledging our role in conflicts with God and others, and we turn from our old ways and actively seek peace.
Seek peace and pursue it. Peace isn’t the absence of conflict; it’s the presence of restored harmony. Seeking peace means we aren’t just peace-keepers; we are peacemakers who actively pursue being a part of restoration. We listen empathetically and strive for understanding. We see and are attentive to the brokenness around us and ask where God might be calling us to be a part of reconciliation. And we put in the work because this kingdom work is worth it.
And because of the reconciliation work of Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, reconciliation is not a problem to be solved; it's a process that you’ve been invited to. Jesus Christ is reconciling the world to Himself. How will you join Him?
First Things First
There are plenty of things in life that beg for our attention. Our days are filled with relationships and responsibilities, all of which take time.
In Jesus’ famous sermon in Matthew 6, He spends some time talking about the various things we give our attention to. He explains that instead of spending all of our time and energy worrying about our basic need and desires in life, we should first seek His kingdom and His righteousness. If we do that, everything else will fall into place.
So, what does it mean to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness?
God’s kingdom is about God’s rule and reign over all of creation. His kingdom was unleashed during Jesus’ ministry on earth, and is now growing and expanding throughout the global Church. The work of the kingdom is to continue to tell others about the hope of Jesus, and to teach everything that Jesus has commanded.
To seek God’s righteousness is to desire to live the way God intended. It's to live according to God’s...
