Love Changes Things! Reconciling Love

      Margie walked into the break room and found Debra talking to Jill.  Immediately Jill grew silent, said hi to her and left the room.  Debra just stood there, looking confused.

     “Anything wrong?” Margie asked.

     “Yes.  Things at church have gotten weird and I am not sure what to do,” Debra admitted.

     “Sit down and tell me about it.”

     “Well,” Debra began. “Nothing is being said much in the open, but some of the people at church are split over the renovation of the Youth and Children’s building.  The church has the money for new flooring and some people think we need new carpet and the others want wood-like laminate.  People are actually upset over it.”

     “Does Jill go to church with you?” Margie asked.

     "Do you think things will get worse?”

     Margie frowned at Jill’s insensitivity. 

     “I can’t promise you that this won’t turn into something worse.  Let’s see what God says about church and relationships in the Message Bible. Here’s a good verse about reconciliation,” Margie said. 

     “What is reconciliation?” Debra asked.

     “Changing a relationship from enmity to friendship is the definition our Pastor gave us,” Margie said.  “Let’s look at II Corinthians 5:17-19:”

     “”Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new.  The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!  Look at it!  All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.  God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins.  God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing.  We’re Christ’s representatives.  God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them.”

     “Let me see if I understand this.  God fixed our relationship with Him and now He wants us to fix others?” Debra asked. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

     “I don’t blame you because we can’t fix others.  Only God can.  He has asked us to help other Christians to see that there is a work of love to do.  We are to bring people to God and help them become His friend, not His enemy.  We have to let go of the small differences like flooring and music and building projects to lead people to salvation.  Working together is the best way to do this.”

     “I can be a positive influence at church,” Debra said, excitably.  “When people say something negative to me, I will help them to see what is important.”

     “That is love that reconciles us to each other and to God,” Margie said, smiling.