Romans 5:10-11   ‘For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. ‘

DAILY READING: John 3:22-36; 1 Chronicles 13-14; Zechariah3

Don and Carol Richardson were Canadian missionaries under the sponsorship of Regions Beyond Missionary Union.

In 1962, they embarked on a missionary career in New Guinea where they served for 15 years among the Sawi people, a stone-age tribe of cannibal headhunters.

The Sawi people celebrated treachery as an ideal. They often befriended people of other villages with the intent of later betraying, killing and even eating them. The first time Don Richardson shared the story of Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus, the Sawi admiringly proclaimed Judas the hero of the story!

Among this savage tribe, the Richardsons ministered to a pair of neighboring villages that were constantly warring against each other, encouraging them to reconcile.

When they finally came to reconciliation, they did so through a tradition steeped deeply in their history, which involved each tribe offering a child to the other tribe. This child was called the peace child.

The Richardsons who had not been able to get the people to fully understand the Gospel then used the story of the peace child to describe how God gave Jesus as the peace child to reconcile the world to Himself.

That peace child analogy, in fact, served as the basis of the breakthrough in the Sawi people’s understanding of the Gospel. With this new approach to the salvation story, the tribe finally came to saving faith in Christ.

Indeed Christ Jesus was the ultimate Peace Child.

His mission here on earth was one of reconciliation. He came to reconcile us to God through His death and resurrection.

He came to reconcile us to one another as members of His Body, the church.

Jesus laid down His life to break down the middle wall of partition erected in our relationship with God through our disobedience.

Christ bore on the cross the full judgment that we deserved for our rebellion against God.

Romans 5:10-11 says   ‘For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. ‘

Through the Blood of Jesus, we have been reconciled and restored back to fellowship with God. Though our sins separated us from God, yet, through Christ we have been brought back into an intimate relationship with God.

Now through the peace Christ has made by His Blood on the cross, we are again counted as God’s friends. We are now the Lord’s redeemed.

We have received forgiveness and the countless other blessings that come through being in restored relationship with God.

Not only are we purchased at the cost of Christ’s life, we are also adopted by His Blood into God’s family.

Christ has cancelled the handwriting of every ordinance against us, He took it away, nailed it to the cross and He wrote in His blood, “paid in full” across our outstanding bill of indebtedness to God.

There is therefore now no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. Surely, as the son of God has set us free, we are truly free indeed.

PRAYER;  Father, thank You for Jesus and His gift of reconciliation to us. Please help me to pay the spiritual price to keep growing in intimacy with You. Certainly, in this season of wonders, I  shall experience Your power, grace and glory in every area of my life in Jesus’ Name.

Quote

God is preparing you for the season He prepared for your breakthrough. WORDBITE 222.