Skip to main content

 

ODB Message

“Taking the First Step”

By

Poh Fang Chia

 

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19

 

Tham Dashu sensed something was missing in his life. So he started going to church—the same church his daughter attended. But they never went together. In earlier days, he had offended her, which drove a wedge between them. So, Tham would slip in when the singing started and leave promptly after the service ended.

 

Church members shared the gospel story with him, but Tham always politely rejected their invitation to put his faith in Jesus. Still, he kept coming to church.

 

One day Tham fell gravely ill. His daughter plucked up the courage and wrote him a letter. She shared how Christ had changed her life, and she sought reconciliation with her dad. That night, Tham put his faith in Jesus and the family was reconciled. A few days later, Tham died and entered into the presence of Jesus—at peace with God and his loved ones.

 

The apostle Paul wrote that we are to “try to persuade others” about the truth of God’s love and forgiveness (2 Cor. 5:11). He said that it is “Christ’s love [that] compels us” to carry out His work of reconciliation (v. 14).

 

Our willingness to forgive may help others realize that God desires to reconcile us to Himself (v. 19). Would you lean on God’s strength to show them His love today?

 

Is there someone you need to try to reconcile with? What practical first step can you take today?

 

Our willingness to seek reconciliation with others shows God’s heart to them.

 

#December # Solidarity #WalkWithUs

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of God's word and called it 'pluralism'. We have worshipped other gods and said 'give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar'. We have endorsed pervertion and called it 'alternative life style'. We have exploited the poor and called it 'lottery'. We have rewarded laziness and called it 'welfare'. We have committed adultery and called it 'playing around'. We have committed fornication and called it 'having fun'. We have killed unborn children and called it 'choice'. We neglected to discipline our children and called it 'building self esteem'. We have abused power and called it 'politics'. We have converted our neighbour's property and called it 'ambition'. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it 'freedom of expression'. We have ...
Post a Comment
Read more

#NextGeneration Stories

Cherokee Legend Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage? His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.  He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help from anyone.  Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some humans might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man! Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.    He had been at watch the entire night, p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Do You Smoke?

6 personalized approaches to quitting forever.  Everyone smokes—and quits—for different reasons, and the key to getting smoke-free for life is to find out why you are smoking and then change those behaviors. If you are a Recreational or Social Smoker, you may feel that your limited smoking poses no serious medical harm to yourself or others. You may, however, ignore warning signs that your occasional smoking is progressing into addiction, especially during periods of stress or increased alcohol use. A periodic review of these warning signs may help motivate you to consider becoming smoke-free. The Scared-to-Quit Smoker has no end of reasons (excuses) to put off going smoke-free to some future date. Sometimes it helps to focus on just quitting for one day. If you can quit for a day, you can quit every day. This realization can be a great confidence builder, and helps to decrease your fears about not smoking “ever again.” Forever is too big a word for many addicts; thus the old adage...
Post a Comment
Read more