Doing the Hard Work for Us

Although I ride a lot, I'm not fast. I've never raced bikes. My moving average is only about 14-15 miles per hour. So sometimes when I'm riding I'll be overtaken by another cyclist who is faster than me. Rarely do I ever get to "reel in" a cyclist that I see in front of me and gradually catch up because I'm going faster than they are. So if I want to ride with another cyclist they usually have to agree to stick to my pace, or I'll be "dropped."

God could have easily decided to drop us, after the people he created in his image rebelled against him. Had that been the case, there is no way we could have ever "reeled in" God and come back into fellowship with him by our own efforts. God had to do the hard work of reconciling us to him. This is very clear from 2 Corinthians 5. In verse 18 Paul writes: "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself." The fact that Christ died for all, that he was raised from the dead, and the fact that as a result we are new creations, is all from God. We had nothing to do with it.

From eternity God decided to reconcile us to himself. And he decided to do this even though he knew how hard it would be. In verse 19 Paul says: "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them." God was reconciling the world to himself. The world of sinful men was not reconciling itself to God. We cannot do that. Only God could do that by not counting men's sins against them. And what did it take for that to happen? Christ had to die for our sins. He had to pay our debt for us.

A husband who has betrayed his wife through unfaithfulness is unlikely to be reconciled to her by his own efforts. Unless she decides to forgive him and to pursue reconciliation, it is unlikely that the marriage will be restored. Even moreso, we cannot reconcile ourselves to God by our own efforts. God is holy. We are not. We can't try hard enough or do enough to make things right with God. But, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (vs. 21). God did it. He put his own Son on the cross in our place. He laid the burden of our sins on him. God exchanged our sin for Christ's perfect righteousness so that we could be right with God.

This is truly incredible. Every day we must thank God for his loving work of reconciliation on our behalf. Because it's something we could have never done for ourselves. It would be like me trying to catch Lance Armstrong while climbing the Alp D'Huez. That's why "Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all" (vs. 14) and we should no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us and was raised again (vs. 15)! Thank God that he has reconciled you to himself!