Romans 5: 10 was up for discussion in Sunday school this morning. It states, "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." First, we talked about that word enemies. It means more than kids who can't share the slide on the playground or middle school girls who like the same boy. So much more! Being an enemy of someone means working against them. Working to undo everything they try to do. Trying to foil their every plan. Being an enemy of God means being totally against Him!
But then we hit the word reconcile. I kept thinking of bank statements. When you reconcile a bank statement, you make it balance. If what you have recorded in your register does not match what the bank says you have, you start searching, looking for the error, trying to bring it back into balance. It is possible at the end of this process to be left with a deficit. That is not a good feeling! I got our check register so "out of balance" one time that I could not find the error. I COULD NOT reconcile it. I took it to the bank and a kind lady there worked on it for days and got me all straightened out. (Sorry, Daddy! I know you tried to teach me better!) How nice it would have been for her to say, "You know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to deposit what you need to bring you into balance. Don't worry about it!" I assure you that did not happen. But that is what God did for us. Seeing all the deficits and wrongs and times we stubbornly worked against Him, He still supplied what we needed to reconcile us. Even though what we needed to make up the deficit and fill in the gaps was the very life of His Son! The blood of Jesus blots out the mess we have made of our lives, our check registers if you will. He reconciles the life, in which we fall so short of His expectations, and makes us perfect or complete. He balances our books and leaves us with the joy of living an abundant life and hope of living eternally with Him!
