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graciousheaven · 11 months

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ARE YOU RECONCILED TO GOD

Life on this earth is fleeting; we pass away like a vapor. As the psalmist said, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away,” Psalms 90:10. It is beyond dispute that our lifetime is marked by drudgeries and afflictions, and that death awaits every one of us. But the problem is that not everyone understands why. Hence, questions such as: ‘Why does God allow suffering to happen? Why are things not getting better?’, keep coming from the mouths of many.

People are quick to complain when faced with hardships; they become angry with God because they think they deserve better. This bears witness to man’s blindness to the reality of his own condition. For predominantly, people are concerned about health, wealth and prosperity more than anything else, being blinded by the ruler of this world, i.e. Satan. And this blindness leads to the rejection of truth, the only means to have a correct diagnosis of the human condition, the only source of all healing and restoration. Consequently, many people fail to properly assess and understand the human condition; they fail to understand what is going on in this present age. Moreover they are clueless about things that are still to come, i.e. the last events that will mark human existence. And worse still, they forsake the Source of Living Water and the Word of Life, where healing in found, and give themselves up to deceitful spirits, and they feed them with ashes.

Unless we understand the root of our condition, then recognize our responsibility in that regard, and welcome the only means of healing available, through the acceptance of Truth, we can never get our heads above the water. Rather, we will get drowned and perish in the sea of drudgeries and hardships that overwhelms our existence in this present age, and in the age to come we will be subject to everlasting torment. I am not suggesting that we can completely avoid calamities and difficulties in this life, but rather what I mean by that is this: our understanding of the reason of their existence is helpful. For such understanding enables us to seek healing and restoration, which will be fully experienced only in the life to come.

We live in a sin-filled and cursed world. To understand this, we must go back to the beginning of creation when God created man. God “put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die,” Genesis 2:15-17. But it wasn’t too long before man disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because he desired to be like God. Therefore, curse befell him; God pronounced a damning sentence upon man, saying, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” Genesis 3:17-19.

Thus originated our drudgeries and troubles, and death entered the human realm. Someone may say: ‘Adam was the one who disobeyed God in the Garden. Why does the whole human race have to suffer the same fate?’ Because we were all in Adam when he sinned against God, the entire human race fell with him; we are all guilty of the original sin. And because we all inherited the sinful nature of Adam through his blood, we all sin and are all subject to the dreadful consequences of sin. And death, the wages of sin, holds us all captive.

We all suffer and die because we are all sinners. As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10); we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” v. 23. The sufferings and afflictions and hardships that we experience in this life are consequences of sin. However, the most dreadful thing that befell the entire human race as a result of man’s rebellion against God is his separation from God. For after the fall of man, “God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life,” Genesis 3:23-24. ‘Why did God drive man away from His presence?’, someone may ask. Because God is holy and man is unholy. When sin entered the realm of mankind, man became inherently depraved and hostile toward God, and his heart inclined toward the deeds of wickedness. But God takes no pleasure in wickedness; He hates evil and all who do iniquity. Those who do evil cannot dwell in His presence, as Psalms 5:4-6 tells us. To be pleasing to God, to dwell in His presence, we must be holy, for He is holy. Without holiness, as Hebrews 12:14 says, no one can see God.

Thus, depravity led to our alienation from God. And being separated from God, all that awaits us is eternal death, which is but an everlasting and conscious cruciation in the hell of fire. But God does not desire that we should perish. “As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live,” Ezekiel 33:11. The Lord will not destroy the wicked, not even the worst of all, if only they forsake their crooked ways and follow the ways of the Lord, the way of righteousness. “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more,” says the Lord in Hebrews 8:12.

Our iniquities have separated us from God; and our sins have hidden His face from us, says Isaiah 59:2. Therefore, there is a need for every one of us to be reconciled to God, lest we incur eternal torment and the wrath of Almighty God, which is a just retribution for the sins that we have committed. For every evil thought, every evil word that the mouth speaks, every wrong action or failure to do the right thing, is sin against God, a violation of His commandment. However, there is no reconciliation with God unless our sins are forgiven, “and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins,” Hebrews 9:22. But because we are unable to atone for our own sins, God, in His mercy, sent His Son Jesus Christ, that through Him we may obtain forgiveness and peace with God. “For it pleased the Father that in [Christ] all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).

As already cited, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But through the vicarious death of His Son on the cross, God decided to reconcile us to Himself. Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” John 1:29. Apart from Him there is no forgiveness of sin, no hope for reconciliation. There is no peace with God apart from His Son. We can be made right with God only through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ His Son. The only way to be reconciled to God is through His Son Jesus Christ. Thus it is written: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” Acts 4:12. And without holiness no one can see God.

Christ came into this world, lived the perfect life we could not and cannot live, and bore the wrath of God on our behalf. His blood was shed to propitiate the wrath of God stirred up by our sins, so “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life,” John 3:16. Everyone who forsakes his evil ways and believes in Christ’s substitutionary death and atoning sacrifice is cleansed by His precious blood and justified before God. To such people Christ imputes His own righteousness and they are treated by God as righteous. And the Holy Spirit baptizes them into the family of God, and seals them into God’s love, from which “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate [them],” Romans 8:38-39.

Through Christ the Lord, repentant sinners are made holy and blameless, and they become heirs of God’s eternal Kingdom and are granted life eternal. For the righteousness of Christ, i.e. His thoughts, words, and deeds, which indeed are all righteous because of His sinless nature, are credited to them as well as the heavy price He paid on the cross by becoming our sin-bearer. For “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” Romans 5:12, through the one Man Jesus Christ grace abounds and the free gift of righteousness is given to all who believe (v.17), and they inherit eternal life. “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God,” 2 Corinthians 5:21.

However to receive this righteousness, which comes from God alone and without which no one can see God, we must turn away from sin and trust in Christ alone (Romans 3:22); “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith,” V. 23-25a. So, righteousness is gifted to us graciously by God, and is to be received by faith alone in Christ alone. As it is written, “To the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness,” Romans 4:5. That is to say, no one can be right before God apart from faith in Christ. And this faith, through which we obtain deliverance from sin, death, Satan, the world, judgement and hell, is evidenced by genuine repentance and obedience to God.

There is no forgiveness without genuine repentance, i.e. a humble acknowledgement of one’s sins, sinfulness and unrighteousness, a sincere affirmation of one’s desire to turn away from sin, and a recognition of one’s need of Christ the Saviour and Lord. And this recognition is attested by the confession of Christ as the only Mediator who can reconcile us to God, a confession evidenced by our faith in the person and work Christ, a faith that shows itself in our transformed life. As Paul says in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

To all those who trust in Christ alone for salvation, forgiveness of sin is granted and life eternal in the glorious presence of God. For “In [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,” Ephesians 1:7. But those who reject Christ remain under divine curse, and death, i.e. hell, is their eternal reward because their sins remain unatoned for. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 6:23. Eternal life is a gift from God. But it can only be obtained through faith in God’s only Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” declares the Lord in John 14:6. Jesus alone can purify sinners with His precious blood, cover their nakedness with His holy garment, revive their dead souls with His Spirit, and usher them into the presence of the holy Lord God Almighty.

Apart from the work and person of Christ, reconciliation with God would not be possible. For there would be no propitiation, thus no forgiveness of sin; there would be no imputed righteousness, thus no justification; and without justification there would be no salvation, no sanctification, and no glorification. Sinners would remain in their defiled and unholy state and would never enter the presence of God. But Christ’s divine power grants “to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” 2 Peter 1:3. Those who reject Christ turn their backs on the grace and the free gift of righteousness and life that God has graciously made available to all. For such the fire of hell is reserved.

If you are not yet reconciled to God, I encourage you to cling to Christ the Lord and Saviour today, and He will cleanse you of all your sins, clothe you with His own righteousness, and you will be reconciled to God. He is the means by which sins are forgiven, and sinners are made right with God. So repent of your sins today and trust in Christ alone for your salvation, and you will receive the free gift of righteousness and life. Whatever your sins, cling to Him. For, as already stated, the Lord does not desire your perishment, but rather He wants you to turn away from your sins and live. His tender mercies are unsearchable. He came to save those who are burdened by sin, who recognize their sinfulness and their inability to satisfy God's justice, and cry out to Him for help. Thus says the Lord in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

This call is for you today. Do not harden your heart, because tomorrow may be too late. Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” For the Lord’s patience will not last forever. The day is coming when He will withdraw His hand of mercy and unleash His righteous wrath upon you, if you do not abandon your evil ways and turn to Him now. On that day you will seek His face and shall find Him no more. But salvation is available now for you if you call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and turn to Him in repentance and faith.

Jesus Christ is the only Mediator between God and man; He is the Lord and Saviour, the Way to eternal life. Rituals cannot make you holy, your religiosity cannot reconcile you to God, your works cannot save you from perishing; they cannot make you right with God. They are nothing but filthy rags in His sight. Righteousness is a gift from God, and can only be obtained through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. That is, it is only by faith in the person and work of Christ that you can be justified before God. As already cited, “To the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness,” Romans 4:5.

So, repent of your sins today, acknowledge your inability to satisfy the justice of God, and trust in Christ the Lord, the Lamb of God who takes away sins and reconciles men to God. And all your sins – past, present, and future – will be forgiven, and you will be numbered among God’s children. Thus, you will no longer be separated from God; you will no longer be His enemy, nor shall any condemnation befall you. For “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1. For He bore the sins of all those who would ever believe on Him, and He willingly offered Himself as a propitiation to satisfy the justice of God on their behalf. I plead with you, do not harden your heart. Turn away from your sins and receive life in Christ.

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ianspirations · 1 year

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Ut Unum Sint (On Commitment to Ecumenism)

We find ourselves apart from our fellow Christian brethren due to doctrinal differences, other misgivings inherited from the past, mutual misunderstandings and prejudices. Complacency, indifference and insufficient knowledge of one another worsens the divide. Ecumenism requires a conversion of heart and prayer which is capable of healing old wounds. (2)

The Church is a student of history, she learns from it not to trust entirely on human support so that she can live the Gospel law of the Beatitudes. She exercises authority in service of truth and charity. (3)

Christ desired that all Christians be one. The Church is not closed in on herself; she is open to missionary and ecumenical endeavour. She is sent to be a witness, to make present and to spread the ‘mystery of communion.’ (5) The unity of humanity is God’s will. That is why He sent His Son. Christ came to reconcile us to God and to make us one body – His body. Division contradicts the will of Christ and obstructs the proclamation of Good News. (6)

The Church sees ecumenical effort as a duty of a Christian conscience. Unity lies at the heart of Christ’s mission. It isn’t a secondary attribute of the apostolic community; it is their essence. “Unity is an expression of the whole depth of His agape.” (9) Unity is not a mere gathering; it is held together by bonds of faith, sacraments and hierarchical communion. ‘The faithful are one because they are in communion with Christ who is in communion with the Father. Thus, communion is a manifestation of God’s presence. “To believe in Christ means to desire unity; to desire unity means to desire the Church; to desire the Church means to desire the communion of grace which corresponds to the Father’s plan from all eternity.” (9)

The separated Churches, though they profess a defective faith are still instruments through which Christ carries on His salvific work. (10) The Catholic Church has defects of her own like the infidelity of her priests, mediocrity of members and other general sins of her people. Nevertheless, the elements of sanctification and truth present in other Christian communities are the objective basis of communion even though they be imperfect. (11) Some of these elements are: consecration through baptism, celebration of sacraments, recognition of an episcopate, celebration of the Holy Eucharist and devotion towards Mother Mary. (12) All those who are baptized deserve the title ‘Christian’ since they have become members of Christ’s body.

Dialogue is the means of achieving some sort of understanding. In dialogue, we are able to look at ourselves in the light of the Apostolic Tradition. (16) Looking at things from the Apostolic point of view is one of the most important aspects of Ecumenism. The work for unity concerns every member of the Church, lay and clergy alike. Each should contribute as per their ability. (19) Ecumenical work should not be seen as an appendix to the Church’s mission but “an organic part of her life and work.” (20)

A conversion of heart and mind, holiness of life along with public and private prayer for unity is the soul of the whole ecumenical movement. The Pope terms it ‘spiritual ecumenism.’ It is love that gives rise to any desire for unity. “If we love…we strive to deepen our communion and make it perfect.” (21) Prayer is a powerful way in which we can foster the process of unity. When we pray together, we hasten the process.

The responsibility for organizing dialogue is not reserved to the Holy See. Local churches need to take an active part. Special commissions are being set up at episcopal conferences, synods are organized but these are only initiatives. They provide structure and framework. Dialogue has to happen concretely and for that it requires willing leaders and participants.

Prayer needs to accompany dialogue; prayer makes dialogue more fruitful. (33) Dialogue in turn, helps prayer to become more mature. It also works as an examination of conscience because it confronts us with different experiences and different points of view. The goal of course is to attain truth and to enflesh unity or full communion. Full communion will result from an acceptance of truth which will be revealed by the Holy Spirit. All forms of reductionism and facile agreement must be avoided. Serious concerns must be addressed. (36) This must take place in a spirit of fraternal charity and respect for one’s own and the other’s conscience, a sincere humility and love for the truth. Sacred Scripture and Tradition are essential points of reference in dialogue. (39)

Relations among Christians allows for Christ to manifest Himself. It should not be limited to knowledge of each other’s theologies and liturgy, prayers in common or dialogue. “Unity of action leads to the full unity of faith.” (40) Cooperation among Christians turns into witness and a means of evangelization.

“The ‘universal brotherhood’ of Christians has become a firm ecumenical conviction.” (42) Where there was once difference and animosity, there is now solidarity. Although it isn’t universal, there are a good number of positive examples; where there continues to be difficulty, those engaged in ecumenism need to take bold decisions and initiatives. Leaders of Christian communities ought to take a joint stand in the name of Christ on issues that concern freedom, justice, peace and the future of the world. By doing this, they will communicate the mission of Christians: reminding society of God’s will. (43)

There has been a good amount of collaboration in terms of translating the Word of God into different languages. Another area of growth has been liturgical renewal – some Christian groups have taken the ecumenical suggestion and have begun celebrating the Lord’s Supper on a weekly basis. A significant change is noticed in the allowance of Catholic ministers to minister the Sacraments of Eucharist, Penance and Anointing of the Sick to “Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church but who greatly desire to receive these sacraments.” Catholics can also receive these same sacraments from ministers of Churches in which these sacraments are valid. (46)

“Dialogue does not extend exclusively to matters of doctrine but engages the whole person; it is also a dialogue of love.” (47) Relations between members of Churches have enabled us to discover the wonders God is doing across Churches. Vatican II declared that “elements present among other Christians can contribute to the edification of Catholics.” (48)

The journey of the Church began on the day of Pentecost. The structures of the Church in the East and West developed from the missionary activities of the apostles. The unity of the Church in the First Millennium was maintained within those structures by the Bishops who were successors to the Apostles. Our unity today should fall back on that experience of communion. (55)

The following elements are shared with non-Catholic Christians:

1. They recognize the Divine authority of the Bible and promote love and veneration for the Sacred Scriptures. Through it they access the life of Christ and His teachings.

2. The Sacrament of Baptism which is common, represents the sacramental bond of unity. Even though Baptism is important, it is only the beginning of a journey towards salvation and “complete participation in Eucharistic communion.” (66)

Even as they accept the Scriptures like us, they have a different opinion about the relationship between Scripture and the Church. We believe that the Magisterium is an authentic explanation of the Word of God. They do not accept Magisterium.

At the time of the Reformation, doctrinal and historical disagreements arose regarding the Church, the sacraments and the ordained ministry. Since they do not accept the Sacrament of Holy Orders, they do not possess the total reality of the Eucharistic mystery. What they call the Lord’s Supper or its equivalent, is merely a memorial and not a sacrament. (67)

Baptism entails a spiritual life and a specific moral code. The Christian way of life expresses itself in personal prayer, meditation on Scripture, healthy family life, worship as a community, efforts to improve social conditions and promote peace. (68)

All that has been achieved so far in ecumenical dialogue is but a stage on the journey. We are still a distance from calling ourselves ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.’ (77) This effort requires the commitment and effort of all churches (78).

The following are the areas in which full consensus is yet to be achieved:

1. Relationship between Scripture and Tradition

2. Eucharist as a sacrament of the real presence.

3. Ordination as a sacrament

4. Magisterium arising from Christ given authority

5. Recognition of Mary as Mother of God and mother of all believers. (79)

A “dialogue of conversion” is the spiritual foundation of ecumenical dialogue. This dialogue begins with a personal awareness of sin and an attitude of conversion in and through Christ. This then expands to each community. Fraternal koinonia is built on this dialogue. (82) We already share full communion at the highest point of life of grace – martyrdom. So many martyrs from various Christian groups have shed their blood in witness. (84)

It is the role of the Pope as Chief Shepherd to encourage pastors of all Churches to all the real voice of Christ to be heard in their respective churches. In this way the oneness of the Church will be manifested. The Pope therefore is the “first servant of unity.” (94) It is the responsibility of all Bishops to promote unity of all Christians by supporting all activities and initiatives undertaken with this intention. (101)

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