Reconciled to God is the action of God reestablishing our relationship with Him.
—Colossians 1:21–22 NKJV “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—”
In Colossians, Paul, uses his “but (yet) now” to let us who how those who were strangers from Christ are now brought near.
Broken Relationship
Before we can fully appreciate God’s mercy and grace it is important to understand natural mans feelings about God. Man is in open rebellion agains God.
Not only were we alienated from God but even stronger we were enemies with God. The word enemies evokes the feeling of active hatred and open hostility toward God. We were hostile to God both in our thinking and actions. Sin controls our minds which manifests itself in our deeds.
The battle for man’s eternal destiny takes place in the mind. On his own man will not seek God. Man may be aware of God but will thwart his ways and often will choose evil. This battle is taking place in the mind and our thinking is in deliberate rebellion against God.
Man on his own cannot establish a relationship with God.
The Love of God
God had a great plan to reconcile his enemies by the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross.
This shows you the breadth of God’s love. This natural man who chooses to do evil, is actively hostile toward God and wants nothing to do with God, God in the ultimate act of love gave His only begotten Son so that we may have life. Such great love is hard for our finite minds to comprehend.
In this “but (yet) now”, we see another good example of God’s grace to those who are in active rebellion against Him.
Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
God Desires all to be Saved
God wants to reconcile those that are alienated from Him. A powerful weapon God wields through the Spirit is the Word of God.
1Timothy 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
This reconciliation is by the grace of God. It is necessary for man to understand that he is a sinner, that Christ died for his sins and through faith we become one in Christ. This is the saving message of the gospel.
The battle for your eternal destiny rages in your mind. Read the Word of God and let the Spirit of God bring you peace. Through faith accept Christ as your savior. God had done all the work, won’t you accept the victory God has already won for you.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Enemies Reconciled to God
Through Christ’s blood, we are reconciled to God by faith, when we trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross for us! It is only through His mercy and grace that while we were in our rebellious state that God reached out to us and offered eternal peace through Christ.
Colossians 1:21-23 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
We did a 10-part series examining the “but now” of the Apostle Paul. Here is a list of the other articles in the series:
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