Thursday, April 17, 2025
Col
1:19-21
19 For it pleased the Father that in him
should all fulness dwell;
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or
things in heaven.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.
In 1962, Don and Carol
Richardson
risked their lives to share the gospel with the Sawi people of New Guinea. Peace
Child tells their unforgettable story of living among these headhunters and
cannibals, who valued treachery through fattening victims with friendship
before the slaughter. God gave Don and Carol the key to the Sawi hearts via a
redemptive analogy from their own mythology. The "peace child" became
the secret to unlocking a value system that had existed through generations.
Similarly, Jesus was the
“peace child” that
reconciled sinful man and Holy God. His sacrificial death became the
satisfaction of God’s sense of justice and the means whereby God might express
His love. The word “sometime,” as it is used in verse 21 does not mean
intermittently alienated but formerly alienated. It was a
grievous condition that is now past because of Christ.
The word “enemies” means that we were not only estranged from
God but that we were actively hostile to God! This is the position and the
condition of unredeemed man.
Warren Wiersbe comments that “They did not reconcile themselves to
God; it was God who took the initiative in His love and grace. The Father sent
the Son to die on a cross that sinners might be reconciled to God. Jesus died
for us when we were "without strength" (Rom 5:6) and could do nothing for ourselves. He died for us
"while we were yet sinners" and "when we were enemies" (Rom 5:8,10).
Dear Lord, thank you for becoming our
“Peace Child.” AMEN
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