Reconciling – Leave the Baggage Behind
SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 
Read the passage
BIO: Hi! My name is Rebecca Bedell and I’m the Minister of Worship at FPCO. I am originally from Mississippi and have lived in Orlando for ten years. I am blessed to have a great family. My husband Mike is a Florida native and is in the home mortgage industry, my oldest son Wil (Brown) leads worship for the Genesis service, my daughter Ann Kallyn sings in the FPCO choirs and is a freshman at Valencia Community College and Dylan is a first grader at The Christ School. We love being part of the FPCO family!
KEY VERSE: 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.."
CENTRAL TRUTH: The key truth in this passage is a reminder to us that once we have accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Redeemer of our lives – we are indeed new creations. Our old life has "passed away" and our "new life" has come.
DEVOTIONAL: Reconciling – Leave the Baggage Behind
God gave Jesus Christ so that there might be a way for the world to be connected to Him again. In the Garden of Eden, humankind walked with God – and then came the fall. Separation from God was the result – and Jesus is our bridge back to the Father. He is our Reconciler. To reconcile means to "settle", to "bind together" or to "patch up". This is Christ’s gift to us and our ministry to the world.
But, it is hard to "bind together" if your hands are holding on to something that gets in the way – or to "patch up" when your needle can’t get though something impenetrable. In verse 17 scripture tells us that the "old has gone" and the "new has come". What does that mean to us? The "old" refers to past sins, habits or ways of being and the "new" to the ways of Christ – such as the fruit of the Spirit. But as the saying goes "old habits die hard."
I refer to old sin habits as baggage – or suitcases. The suitcase of my sin can be sitting with me at all times – but it is my choice whether or not to pick it up and carry it around with me all day. When I choose to pick it up, I struggle to get the "ministry of reconciliation" that I am called to actually done. When I am able to recognize it as part of my old self and leave it sitting in the corner – then my focus lifts to God and I am much more in tune with living that day for Him and bringing His love to those around me.
We are called to the ministry of reconciliation – to bring the love of Christ and the good news of Christ’s redeeming work to those around us in our world – those are our marching orders – are your hands free to do the work?
QUESTION 1: What are your "suitcases" (habitual sins) that you tend to pick up and carry with you that interfere with keeping your eyes on Christ and doing his work? Naming these sins will help you to identify them before you pick them up out of habit. Make a suitcase list. Ask God to help you recognize that old part of yourself and when you want to pick it up, to choose instead to lift your eyes to Him and leave the suitcase in the corner.
QUESTION 2: Think about your role as a "reconciler". What situations in your life need to be "settled", "bound back together" or "patched up"? God wants to use you in the life of others to bring the love of Christ. If there are situations that include you, spend some time in prayer and ask God to show you the way He would have you work for reconciliation in that relationship or in those surroundings. If there are other situations, pray that God would use you and your words and actions to show God’s love in those places.
QUESTION 3: Verse 20 of this passage tells us that we are Christ’s ambassadors or representative as we work in the ministry of reconciliation. This is a high calling and is an honor. When I think of the word, I think of the ambassadors we have from the U.S. to other countries. I have never had the privilege to meet an ambassador from another country – but I have in my mind’s eye what those persons would be like. What do you think of when you think of this type of ambassador? How can this image help you to understand your role an ambassador who has a mission of reconciliation? How would this change how you live or relate to those around you?
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