RECONCILIATION: BEING AT PEACE WITH GOD

In August of 1972 I moved to Boston, Massachusetts to begin working for an engineering firm located there.  Shortly after my arrival, I was approached by a co-worker who, after placing a Bible on my desk, introduced himself and proceeded to tell me a little about himself.

He told me that he was a Christian; and, that when he started working for that firm he had given everyone there a Bible.  He went on to say that he wanted to give me a Bible as well, now that I was there.  And, so he did.

After that first encounter, this co-worker would talk with me about passages in the Bible.  He would ask me to read portions of scripture at home so that we could then talk about them the following day.  Having just moved to a new area of the country, along with recent events in my life which made me very aware of the reality of God, I found myself very eager to do what he was asking me to do.  And I began to hear, for the first time, words of reconciliation.

It was probably no more than two weeks after that first encounter with my co-worker that I met another young man.  I had been given an invitation to come to the Church of Scientology by someone on the street one evening.  My initial response was that I would be busy that evening and would not be able to come (to be honest, I simply was not interested); but, I went on to say that maybe in a couple of days I could.  A couple of days later I was convicted by what I had said to the person inviting me, so I went to visit this Church of Scientology.

After a brief presentation, members of this organization spoke with all of us who were visiting, individually.  While I waited for someone to speak with me, I found myself being drawn into a dialogue between another visitor and one of the members of Scientology, who was providing counsel that evening.  As they spoke with each other, a strange thing happened.  Whenever the counselor spoke, I found myself drawn to other things.  But, whenever the man visiting spoke, I was drawn back into their dialogue.  And, not only was I drawn back into their dialogue, for lack of a better way to put it, my entire being sensed that I needed to speak with this man. I kept hearing the words “Talk with him”.  So when I finally spoke with a counselor, I simply said that I was not interested in what Scientology had to offer; after which, I coordinated my departure with that of the other man who was visiting.

As we left, I said to him, “I couldn’t help overhearing you speaking with the counselor and realizing that there was something different about you.  I knew that I had to speak with you to find out what that difference was.  And, he looked at me, and he said, “I am a Christian:  I just love the Lord.”  And, once again, I began to hear words of reconciliation.

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (KJV). The passage continues in verses 18 through 21 as follows:

All this is God’s doing, for he has reconciled us to himself through Christ; and he has made us agents of the reconciliation.  God was in Christ personally reconciling the world to himself – not counting their sins against them – and has commissioned us with the message of reconciliation.  We are now Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were appealing direct to you through us.  For Christ’s sake we beg you “Make your peace with God.”  For God caused Christ, who himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God (J. B. Phillips).

Remember those two guys (my co-worker and the other visitor at the Church of Scientology)?  God was appealing directly to me through them to be reconciled to Him.

Earlier I alluded to events in my life that made me very aware of the reality of God.  It all began one month before moving to Boston.  I experienced something that I had never experienced before.  Something very similar to what I experienced while visiting the Church of Scientology.  I was all alone, sitting in my car, when suddenly I began to sense two things:  the first being that there was a God.  Having grown up going to church, I don’t think there was ever a time when I didn’t believe in the existence of God; but, this was different.  This was not my believing he existed, this was my being absolutely convinced of that reality.  This was a knowing of what I had only believed up to that point.  And, the second thing was an even more powerful revelation.  I sensed that he was right there with me. And, in that moment, I heard the words “Be still, there’s something I want you to do”.

After approximately one month in Boston, spending a considerable amount of time with these two men, I realized several things.  I realized God’s love for me; my sinfulness and separation from Him; as well as my need for a Savior.  At that point I turned to Him; repented of my sin; and, received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  And, what followed I have never forgotten.

My co-worker, who had given me the Bible, was the first person I spoke with about what I had done.  I was now a new creature in Christ.  Old things were passed away; all things had become new for me.  God had reconciled me to himself through Christ; and, he had used his agents of reconciliation in the process.  And, that’s when he, my co-worker, told me what follows.

My Christian co-worker lived a Spirit filled life.  What I mean by that is, he lived a life directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Because of Christ, his life had been full and meaningful.  But then he relocated to where he now lived:  south of Boston.

As time passed, it became more and more difficult to travel the distance to fellowship with the congregation of believers he was accustom to fellowshipping with.  Gaps in fellowship began to occur.  There were interruptions in his reading of God’s word and difficulty praying.  The life that was once full and meaningful became empty and insignificant.  It became as if the Holy Spirit had left him.  At that point, the point of sensing what felt like the absence of the Holy Spirit, he dropped to his knees and prayed.  What he prayed for was a believing co-worker to fellowship with.  And he prayed that prayer one month before I moved to Boston, which was when it all began for me.  The event in my life that made me very aware of the reality of God. That moment while all alone, sitting in my car. That moment I sensed that God was right there with me. That moment I heard the words “Be still, there’s something I want you to do”. That moment occurred one month before I moved to Boston. The moment, I believe, my co-worker dropped to his knees and prayed.