Wednesday, October 2, 2019

How to Reconcile With God


How does one reconcile with God?

First, we must seek God and truly want Him in our lives:

You will seek me and find me 
when you seek me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

Secondly, we must bow to Him in all humility and accept how sinful we are:

for ALL have sinned 
and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 3:23 NIV

Thirdly, knowing we were born of a sinful nature, we then must sincerely ask for repentance:

This is what the Sovereign LORD, 
the Holy One of Israel, says: “
In repentance and rest is your salvation, 
in quietness and trust is your strength, 
but you would have none of it.

Isaiah 30:15 NIV

Fourthly, we acknowledge the wisdom of being "born again" in Christ and accept Him as our Savior:

You Must Be Born Again

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, 
a ruler of the Jews. 
2 This man came to Jesus[a] by night and said to him, 
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, 
for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 
3 Jesus answered him, 
“Truly, truly, I say to you, 
unless one is born again[b] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 
4 Nicodemus said to him, 
“How can a man be born when he is old? 
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 
5 Jesus answered, 
“Truly, truly, I say to you, 
unless one is born of water and the Spirit, 
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, 
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[c] 
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘
You[d] must be born again.’ 
8 The wind[e] blows where it wishes, 
and you hear its sound, 
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. 
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, 
“How can these things be?” 
10 Jesus answered him, 
“Are you the teacher of Israel 
and yet you do not understand these things? 
11 Truly, truly, I say to you, 
we speak of what we know, 
and bear witness to what we have seen, 
but you[f] do not receive our testimony. 
12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, 
how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 
13 No one has ascended into heaven 
except he who descended from heaven, 
the Son of Man.[g] 
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 
15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[h]


For God So Loved the World

16 “For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, 
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but in order that the world might be saved through him. 
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 
but whoever does not believe is condemned already, 
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, 
and people loved the darkness rather than the light 
because their works were evil. 
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light 
and does not come to the light, 
lest his works should be exposed. 
21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, 
so that it may be clearly seen 
that his works have been carried out in God.”

John 3:1-21 NIV

Fifth, we let God take over our thoughts, words, and deeds for He alone knows what is best for us:

"He must become greater; 
I must become less."

John 3:30 NIV

And that takes complete faith in God:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, 
because anyone who comes to him 
must believe that he exists and that he rewards those 
who earnestly seek him.”

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

In truth, God chose us.

He saw what we have in our hearts and thus:

You did not choose me, 
but I chose you and appointed you 
so that you might go and bear fruit—
fruit that will last—
and so that whatever you ask in my name
 the Father will give you.”

John 15:16 NIV

What now?

We become new in Christ and our lives will have the greatest meaning, in a way the world can never have achieved in us.

Our eternal happiness comes from Christ alone, the Son of the Only Holy Father:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, 
the new creation has come: 
The old has gone, 
the new is here
All this is from God, 
who reconciled us to himself through Christ 
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, 
not counting people’s sins against them. 
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, 
as though God were making his appeal through us. 
We implore you on Christ’s behalf: 
Be reconciled to God.”

 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 NIV

I thank Joseph, my Bible teacher friend for supplying the essential verses which completes my new understanding of this relationship I'm having with Christ now.


Updated 18 January 2022