Romans 5: 10-11
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received the reconciliation.
When I reconcile my checkbook to the bank statement, if there is any discrepancy, it's my checkbook I change, not the bank statement.
And when we are reconciled to God, it is we who are changed, to become more like our Lord God.
God does not change. We do. We must adjust our thinking, our attitudes, our very lives, to conform to His ways.
O my Father, You are so good to us to show us Yourself and Your ways. Your ways, Father, are not our ways. Our ways focus on ourselves, and are selfish and self-centered. Your ways, Father, show us that our focus needs to be redirected to be on others, not ourselves.
O Father, I know that my own flesh draws me away from loving others the way You have loved me. My own heart lies to me when I feel hurt, or lonely, or deprived in some way. Help me, Father, to take my focus off of my own circumstances and see the needs of others around me.
You are so generous with me, Father, out of Your great riches in glory, and I thank You so much for Your tender care for me. Since You care for me, help me to care for others.
Teach me how to trust You so much that I won't need to focus on my needs at all, knowing that You are caring for me. Free me, Father to care for others, and to show them by my life and attitudes how You care for them, too.
Continue to reconcile my thinking processes and attitudes to conform to Your ways, Father, not the World around me. You began this good work in me, and You will continue to perform it until I am perfected on that Day our Lord and King returns to rule.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
