Agree; the 21st Day of Advent

Ephesians 2:17-22

17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

 

God knew that we were incapable of following through on our part of the covenant, so He became our peace broker. Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection gave us full access to the presence of God and his door of friendship was swung wide open to all those who are willing to meet the conditions of his peace treaty. We no longer need to remain at odds with God. We only have to agree to the terms of this new covenant and enter into his kingdom through repentance and surrender to his Lordship.

 

Not only did Jesus’s death and resurrection bring lasting peace between man and God, his sacrifice brought the potential of peace in our earthly relationships.  The struggle I have is that it’s not easy to embrace the conditions that bring reconciliation in my earthly relationships. But God offers to be our peace-broker, and that peace hinges on our willingness to agree with the conditions of the peace treaty. As we lay down our weapons of self-defensiveness, self-righteousness, un-forgiveness and bitterness, we tear down the walls that we have built around the kingdoms of our hearts due to past hurt and offenses.

 

Lord, it is difficult for us to reach out to those we need to be reconciled with. We sit beside them at church. We sit across them at the family dinner table, and at best, we know that we only have an uneasy truce. We pretend there isn’t a problem, but we are vividly aware of the walls of hurt we have built. Give us the love to be the first to extend a gesture of peace this Christmas season. Give us the ability to step forward with a humble heart of forgiveness and repentance. In obedience to your word, we declare that we will seek reconciliation with the specific individuals you have laid on our hearts as we have prayed this prayer.

 

Kenny Evans