God ignores the ledger

Dear First Pres SLO Family,

Our journey through Lent is coming to a close. This season of reflection and repentance is meant to clear away any distractions that might take our focus away from God—what God has done for us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. I hope you’ve been able to make this season meaningful—there’s still some time!

The way of Jesus leads us to reconciliation—with God, with each other, with ourselves, and with the earth. Reconciliation is central to any authentic Christian faith—it’s not only our goal, but also the energy that makes our lives of discipleship come alive. It’s so important that Paul singles it out as a calling from God…on all of us. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 he writes:

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that 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.

God gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

God committed to us the message of reconciliation.

All of that is true, but sometimes we see reconciliation more like accountants than we should. The financial definition goes like this:

Reconciliation is an accounting process that compares two sets of records to check that figures are correct and in agreement.

I think we can all agree that we’re glad that God doesn’t use that definition when dealing with us. Who could stand that kind of scrutiny? Whose life could measure up to that kind of precision? I’ll save you some time: no one’s life measures up—no one rests comfortably in the positive side of that ledger on their own. That’s why Jesus came.

So then what’s all this talk about reconciliation in the church?

How do we do it without rehashing and counting infractions and figuring out where the blame lies? How can we engage in real reconciliation if we don’t identify someone to blame?

The key is right there in those verses in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins

against them.

In the end, God throws out standard accounting practices and replaces it with grace—“not counting people’s sins against them”. Then God invites us to do the same.

In our churches and relationships, God invites us to leave the ledger of infractions behind, and get on with the daily business of caring for each other, serving our neighbors, and bearing witness to the good news of Jesus. Why can he call us to such an outrageous and impractical way of life?

Because it’s exactly what God has done for us.

Lent is an invitation that comes every year to remind ourselves of just how much of the ledger God ignores in building a relationship with us. It points us to the Easter miracle, because that’s where all of the old accounting practices get turned upside down.

There’s still a week or so before Easter…take that time to remember just how much of your own slate God has wiped clean, and then enter the hard work of doing the same for yourself, for the people in your family and circles, and in your church.

We’re in the final stretch of Lent. Blessings to you and yours as you complete this journey.

Pastor John