IdentityНамуна

Main Idea: Broken & Restored Relationally

Looking at our second analogy, the Bible also tells us that not only are we in legal trouble with God, but we have also destroyed our relationship with Him. Our sins hurt God personally, like when you hurt someone who really loves you. In the same way as a child who breaks their parents’ instructions damages their closeness. This includes sins committed against other people, those people are made and loved by God, and the pain we cause them is also felt by Him.

There are two problems that we face in this regard. First, we can’t do anything to repair the damage done. Think about it in the terms of that cheating spouse: what can be done to make up for such betrayal? Nothing, right?

And second, if left to our own devices, we don’t actually want to fix the relationship. We were created to be in perfect closeness with God, and we lose all sense of purpose and meaning without Him. Have any of us done everything possible to try and restore that relationship?

It’s impossible to fix the relationship on our own. The only option we have is that God forgives us. Thankfully, that’s exactly what He did.

We’re told in these verses that Jesus reconciled the world to God. That word ‘reconciled’ is used when two warring parties, two enemies, end their fighting and become friends and allies.

It was God who did this, not us. Even though we were the ones who messed up, God didn’t wait for us to come to Him; He came to us through Jesus to fix the relationship.

On the cross, Jesus received the treatment we should have received from the Father. And now, that means that we can have the kind of relationship He earned from the Father for us. We can be sons and daughters of God, perfectly close to Him, with all the damage repaired. That’s not just a change in relationship; it’s a change in identity. We go from being separated from God to being part of His family.

Reflection Questions:

• How does it make you feel to think that your sin doesn’t just break rules, but actually hurts God, someone who deeply loves you?
• What changes in the way you see yourself when you realise that, through Jesus, you’ve been fully reconciled and adopted into God’s family?