Trust the Word

The Apostle Paul writes,
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All of this is from God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ ... And he has committed to us the ministry 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" (II Corinthians 5:17-20, NIV).

As Christ followers we must trust the word of the Apostle that through Jesus Christ, provision has been made to reconcile the whole world unto God. The crux of this is seen through Paul's use of the Greek word katallage - meaning to unite and/or restore to divine favor. Here the written text is declaring that the Living Word - Jesus Christ (Logos, John 1:1, 14), provided the means to restore all of God's creation to its original intent.

Our understanding of Logos, referring to Christ, is partially derived from the Old Testament word, "dabar". It is translated from the Hebrew in our English Bibles as "word" but has significant implication in that it refers to both word and action as being one in the same. Dabar is both substance and process together. An example of this is seen in Genesis 1:3, when "God said, Let there is light; and there was light."

God's words have power and cannot simply be undone. When God declared he was reconciling the world unto himself through Jesus, he was not only communicating his heart's desire for his creation but was providing the means and initiating the process as well. As followers of Christ we must trust the word which presents Jesus as the embodiment of God who came to earth and set into motion an irreversible, world altering process which has taken hold in us, is actively working in the world today, and is something we are called to participate in for the glory of God.

To not participate in the reconciliation process of the world then is to stand in the way of God. Thus, we must lay down our differences and come together with our fellow man in order to fulfill the command of Christ to love both God and people unconditionally. As ambassadors of the Word we must unite our hearts and pool our resources in actively seeking the best, most fulfilling life possible for all of human kind. We must seek to make God's creation a better place through our word and deed demonstrating that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ... we have experienced his glory and been transformed through his grace and mercy ... and Jesus is actively sharing his blessing with the world" (John 1:14-16). Together we must trust the Word to this end!

Thanks for stopping by!
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Adrian