What does “reconciliation” mean?

Reconciliation is needed when a relationship between individual people or between a person and God is disturbed. Disturbed by an act of carelessness, lack of love, malice towards the other or failure to relate to God – sin.

The essence of sin is the rejection of God’s life-giving love. In this way, sin not only destroys our relationships with others, but ultimately also ourselves. If sin means death, reconciliation means life.

Conflicts and the handling of conflicts are part of being human. First of all, conflicts are morally neutral. They can contribute to personal maturity and strengthening of the personality as well as to personality disorders and problematic addictions. Only the way in which conflicts are dealt with – whether constructive or destructive – is therefore decisive.

A constructive conflict resolution, which does not aim at an “annihilating victory” of one party over the other, but rather at reconciliation and the re-establishment of the relationship, is facilitated by positive bonding experiences.

If I have offended a dear person – if I have “offended” God by a sin, then I can regret it, can imagine that I probably shouldn’t have said or done it that way. However, this recognition of one’s own error does not solve the problem, because only when I am ready to approach the person – or God -, admit my mistake and ask for forgiveness, can a reconciliation take place. Reconciliation brings the disturbed relationship back on track.

Corinthians 5:21 Christ never sinned, but took our sins upon himself, atoned for our sins, to be reconciled to God.

Man – or God – whose benevolence we have forfeited through a wrongdoing, a sin, can forgive us if we ask for this forgiveness in earnest repentance and have the desire to restore the previous status, to regain confidence, to be reconciled. Then it is up to the person concerned – or God – to forgive us.

Forgiveness takes wrongdoing seriously, but overcomes it through love, in that the “debt of debt is canceled and pinned to the cross” (Col. 2: 14 .. and he has erased the debt written against us that opposed us by statutes, and has got them out of the way by pinning them to the cross.

Christ takes over our sins and we get his righteousness in return. The following applies: This exchange is given to people in faith. In addition to the act of reconciliation, there is the word of reconciliation, which constitutes faith.

2 Cor. 5: 17-21 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed; see, everything has become new!

18 But all this comes from God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 for God was in Christ and reconciled the world to himself, not counting their sins against them and placing the word of reconciliation in us.

20 So now we are ambassadors for Christ, in such a way that God himself admonishes through us; So we ask on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God!

21 For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

PRAYER: Lord, help me to overcome myself when I have done something wrong, to confess it in front of others and in front of you. Help me admit my guilt, not just to myself, but “publicly” — go up and say, “Dear friend, dear mother, dear father (dear God  Father), I know what I did was wrong I am sorry, I promise not to repeat it, to get better. Forgive me, let us cultivate our relationship again as before in love and unity. I ask that you forgive me, give me your reconciliation. Only you can restore reconciliation to my sincere repentance if you forgive me, amen.