“ALWAYS RECONCILE WITH THE LORD AND OTHERS”

Greetings of peace,

We must have heard the story of the twins – Esau and Jacob – the sons of Isaac and Rebecca. Although they are twins: the eldest Esau was fond of hunting, while Jacob, his younger brother, loved to stay at home.

In an event, Jacob deceived Esau to sell his birthright to be traded with a bowl of red bean soup (Genesis 25:31-34). It is not only that, Jacob also deceived his father to give him the blessings of the birthright. This matter made Esau furious toward Jacob who had deceived him twice (Genesis 27:31-36). The anger of Esau continued to be vengeance and he had intention to kill his younger brother once his father passed away (v. 41)

Psalms 37:1,7-8 reminded us not to be angry toward others who committed wickedness or deceit, not to envy others who cheated; Do not fret! That only leads to trouble! Even James 1:19 exhorted us, “Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

Pay attention that the opposite of easily angered is love to make peace. If we live in peace, we are close to the Lord and live in holiness (Hebrews 12:14). And vice versa, if we are away from peace, we are approaching anger zone. Our eyes often cannot ‘see’ the Lord and His glory but we are blinded by the gods of this world that may cause horizontal problems to occur and trigger anger.

Jesus Himself revealed that those who bring peace are blessed because they are called as God’s children (Matthew 5:9). He further reminded so that we do and teach the commands of the Law to be able to be seated in a high place in the Kingdom of Heaven (v.19).

It is necessary to be known, one of the Laws, is Thou shall not murder (Exodus 20:13). What was the relation of what Jesus said with murder? Matthew 5:21-25 wrote, “You have heard that it was said to an older generation, ‘Do not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders will be subjected to judgment.’ But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subjected to judgment; …So then, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your gift. Reach agreement quickly with your accuser while on the way to court…”

We must admit that it is very hard to reconcile but Jesus, the Lamb of God, had given Himself on the “Burnt Offering Altar” to be the peace offering between men and God (Hebrews 9:14-15). If we realize that we are the worst of sinners and experience the peace offering of Jesus Christ, we will be trusted as peace maker for others. But how can we bring peace if we do not have that peace. We have not reconciled ourselves with the Lord through the sacrifice of Christ and also not reconciled with others.

The Lord is able to soften our heart to able to receive His Word so that our lives experience salvation (James 1:19-21) as experienced by Apostle Paul who had been a blasphemer, persecutor toward the followers of Christ but then received the grace of sin forgiveness then trusted to be the servant of peace (I Timothy 1:12-15).

Application: we shall (who were the enmity of Christ) ask forgiveness to the Lord and give ourselves to be reconciled with Him then the blood of the Lord sanctify and give the ability to us to reconcile with others, then we’ll be trusted as His messenger.

Be assured that the Word of God will not fail but be able to transform thorns into cypress tree, brier into myrtle tree that the name of the Lord is made known (Isaiah 55:11-13). Myrtle tree has dark shiny leaves and its white flowers are used to make perfume. The wood of cypress tree or myrtle tree is useful for buildings.

Application: the Word of God is able to transform life that was hurtful to be the life that is useful for the glory of the name of the Lord.

Reconciliation with the Lord and others may happen if:

We are humble.

We keep our mouth from evil or deceiving words and flee from wickedness (Psalms 34:13-15).

We don’t render evil with evil but defeat evil with kindness and surrender vengeance to God (Romans 12:17-19)

It is clear that peace can only be received from Jesus Christ because He is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:5). If we glorify the Prince of Peace, our household will have the sphere of peace because His Kingdom comes in us (Matthew 6:9-10); this brings impact that swords and spears that were used as war weapons now become plowshares and pruning hooks that are useful for farming; Zion becomes the center of the kingdom of peace (Isaiah 2:1-5).

Application: New Jerusalem is the destination for God’s children to gather and our names are written there – the place of God’s glory, filled with peace where there are no tears.

Do we want to live peacefully while we are still on earth? Be willing to go through death (our fleshly lusts) by looking at the sacrifice of Christ that is able to bring us to live peacefully with others. If we can do goodness, it is all from Him, not because of our might and strength. If we are committed to surrender ourselves to the Lord, He will act and give the best to us for the greatness of His name. Amen.

Translator : Sri Ayu D.U

Proofreader : Team Interpreter

Lemah Putro, Sunday, May 1, 2016

Ps. Yusuf Wibisono

Note:

Bible verses taken from NET (New English Translation) Bible.