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The last two weeks we have been talking about forgiveness and reconciliation within our families.  At the center of this has been what I call the Cycle of Reconciliation.  You can read about it here.  The Scriptures teach us that when we have sinned and created distance between ourselves and God, or between us and other people, that we need to humble ourselves, confess our wrong, ask for forgiveness and repent (try not to do it again).  Scriptures also teach us how to respond with mercy and forgiveness when we have been wronged.  We have God’s example to follow…

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.  He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.  For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:8-14).

Now, at Christmastime, we remember that God’s desire for reconciliation with us was so great that He sent His only Son into the world, as a sacrifice, to save us all.  Here is what Jesus said about His mission:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19).  Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the Cycle of Reconciliation.  Sin entered the world through the first Adam, and man was separated from God.  Jesus, as the second Adam, defeated sin and allows us all to have fellowship with God.  Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).

I truly believe that modeling reconciliation within the family, and teaching kids how to reconcile with God, gives them a clearer picture of what Jesus has done for them.  They see how God can forgive them because they have known forgiveness.  They know who God is because they have seen Him in us.

This is The Family Workshop.  We are built up in Christ as we live out the scriptures.  Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built His house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the Rock (Matt 7:24-25).  When we do what we have heard in the Word, we are building our lives and our families on a solid foundation.  

So take this opportunity to give your kids a deeper understanding of Christmas – that through the birth of Jesus, God reached out to all of us to bring us closer to Him.  This reconciliation was foretold by the prophets; it is the remedy for what ails us all.  Tell them how to reconcile with God and man.  Show them how to live a life of reconciliation.