Chapter 4 - Reconciliation
Roadblocks to Relationship
Through Him (Jesus) we may know God truly as Father; through Him, the universal becomes the particular, the imminent becomes the transcendent, the implicit becomes the explicit, always becomes now... It was for this purpose—to open up a way for sinners to know God—that Jesus came among us. —Malcolm Muggeridge*
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. —Colossians 1:21
God became a man to turn creatures into sons... —C. S. Lewis*
If it is true that intimacy is proportional to grief, then certainly the One that fashioned us and knows our "going in and going out" must be brokenhearted.
I am broken (Heb. to shiver or shatter) with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me. —Ezekiel 6:9
Mankind has done its best to shatter all expressions of divine love, severing even diplomatic relations with God. Does this shut the door forever on the God-man relationship? Does so skilled a craftsman exist that can sift through the debris of a relationship that once was and visualize the beauty of its original form?
The human situation, although tragic, is not really that complex. In fact we may summarize it as follows:
- Man does not like God or even want to know Him.
- But man needs God for sustenance and optimum fulfillment.
- God loves man deeply and wants the best for him.
- He therefore attempts to win man back to Himself.
