"For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you."
—2 Corinthians 5:11-13

Question: "What is Christian reconciliation? Why do we need to be reconciled with God?"

Answer: Imagine two friends who have a fight or argument. The good relationship they once enjoyed is strained to the point of breaking. They cease speaking to each other; communication is deemed too awkward. The friends gradually become strangers. Such estrangement can only be reversed by reconciliation. To be reconciled is to be restored to friendship or harmony. When old friends resolve their differences and restore their relationship, reconciliation has occurred. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 declares, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation."

Proverbs says not to rebuke the strident least they hate you (Proverbs 7:6-9). One of the great difficulties with those who will not acknowledge their transgression or multiply an infraction by casting new transgressions is to depart with a forgiving heart, lift it up to God, and move on. Psalm 39:7 says, "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You." The Apostle Paul, in Colossians 1:20-21 proclaims, "[B]y 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. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled." When we reflect on the Crosswork of Christ, and when all is forgiven of us, how can we not forgive our brothers?

The Lutheran minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer, famous for his Cost for Discipleship decried the folly of anger and bitterness, which manifests itself in cruel and harsh words:

Anger is always an attack on the brother's life, for it refuses to let him live and aims at his destruction. Jesus will not accept the common distinction between righteous indignation and unjustifiable anger. The disciple must be entirely free of anger, anger is an offense against both God and his neighbor. Every idle word which we think so little of betrays our lack of respect for our neighbor, and shows we place ourselves on a pinnacle above him and value our own lives higher than his. The angry word is a blow struck at our brother, a stab at his heart: it seeks to hit, to hurt and to destroy. A deliberate insult is even worse, for we are then openly disgracing our brother in the eyes of the world, and causing others to despise him. (Cost of Discipleship, (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 128)

Bonhoeffer continues, "When a man gets angry with his brother and swears at him, when he publicly insults or slanders him, he is guilty of murder and forfeits relation to God. He erects a barrier not only between himself and his brother, but also between himself and God." Bonhoeffer laments the folly of grudges born out of resentment, endearing his reader to take attention:

When we come before God with hearts full of contempt and unreconciled with our neighbors, we are, both individually and as a congregation, worshipping an idol. So long as we refuse to love and serve our brother and make him an object of contempt and let him harbour a grudge against me or the congregation, our worship and sacrifice will be unacceptable to God. Not just the fact that I am angry, but the fact there is somebody who has been hurt, damaged, and disgraced by me, who "has a cause against me," erects a barrier between me and God. (Ibid., p. 128)

We may ask for repentance, but stipulations beyond repentence are decried, and such demands strike at the heart of obedience to the Gospel, for as our Lord Christ says, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:22). As Bonhoeffer elucidates on the Gospel commandment on restoration, "Therefore 'go thy way, first be reconciled with thy brother, and then go and offer thy gift.' This is the hard way, but it is the way Jesus requires if we are to follow him. It is a way which brings much personal humiliation and insult, but it is indeed the way to him, our crucified Brother, and therefore a way of grace abounding. In Jesus the service of God and the service of the least of the brethren were one. He went his way and became reconciled with his brother and offered himself as the one true sacrifice to his Father" (p. 129).

The most monumental reflection a Christian believer has to make is that we have been reconciled to God the Father through the sacrifice of His Son. "God is the Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who became the Brother of us all. Here is the final reason why God will not be separate from our brother. His only-begotten Son bore the shame and insults for his Father's glory. But the Father would not separate from his Son, nor will he now turn his from those whose likeness the Son took upon him, and for whose sake he bore the shame" (p. 129). In Christ—all those of faith are reconciled in eternity. When all is forgiven of us then why do we not forgive our brother?

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13).

Ron Paul for President! Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, age 71, announced the creation of an exploratory committee to contemplate a Paul candidacy for the Republican Party Presidential ticket in 2008. Paul was a former Air Force surgeon and ob/gyn medical doctor. Paul is possessed of a profound commitment to statesmanship from principle. He is one of the few legislators in Congress that still considers the question, 'Does Congress even have this power pursuant to the Constitution?' Paul intransigently advocates constitutionally-limited government, a free-market economy, fiscal conservatism in public expenditures, a non-interventionist foreign policy of strategic independence, and a gold standard. He is pro-life, and holds to a consistent life ethic. He is steadfast defender of states' rights and the Tenth Amendment. Paul has served at various times on the House Banking Committee, and is founder and member of the The Liberty Committee.

If the Big Government, subsidy-and-kickback, special-interest Rockefeller Republicans don't predictably mount a challenge to his candidacy, it would be a profound step in the direction of liberty for the United States of America, if we could witness a Paul Presidency in 2008. If he makes it to the state primaries, please consider supporting his nomination. Do your homework on him and you will see he is an honorable man of integrity, and the last of the great citizen-statesmen in the Old Republican tradition of Patrick Henry and John Randolph of Roanoke.

Why Ron Paul can be our next president Updated 4/09/07

Good articles on the Paul Presidency are scarce unfortunately, but I noticed this video online of his speech.