18Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry [simple_tooltip content=’17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’](2 Corinthians 5:17-21)[/simple_tooltip]
Have you ever slaved over your checkbook trying to reconcile it with your bank statement? Sometimes it seems impossible. You think there must be a mistake. But through perseverance, the error is usually found and the two records agree. They are reconciled. Reconciled simply means “to bring into agreement, or to make the same.” When Jesus reconciled us to God, He brought us into agreement with and made us just like God. Some people think this is blasphemy, but that’s what this word means.
Our born-again spirits have been made completely new and are reconciled to God. Our spirits are just like His. The English word reconciled was translated from the Greek word katallage, which means “to change mutually.” The word mutually means “possessed in common; as mutual interests.” Since God never changes, it was our spirits that were changed to be just like His.
Some people can’t accept this because they know themselves only from a carnal point of view. They look in the mirror, search their thoughts, and find obvious things that aren’t like Jesus. But in your spirit—if you are born again—you have been reconciled to God. Whatever God’s Spirit is like is what your born-again spirit is like. Praise the Lord!
God’s Word functions like your bank statement, with one major difference: It’s never wrong. It’s a perfect account of what has taken place in your born-again spirit. Your spirit has been reconciled to God. Today you must reconcile your mind to what the Word says about you: You are just like Jesus on the inside, which means you can act like Him on the outside.
