2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (ESV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

 

God has entrusted into our hands the powerful message of reconciliation. The principle is simple: One party willfully commits a wrongful act against a second party, and though the responsibility rests upon the first party to bring about a reestablishment of cordial relations, the second party takes upon itself the burden of bringing about unity.

 

In the case of heaven and earth, each of us constitute the first party. On a daily basis, we willfully transgress the law of heaven, yet God, in His great love and forbearance, reaches out to bridge the awful chasm that we have created. God’s mechanism for this was Christ.

 

Now Christ has bodily ascended into the heavens yet has promised to be with and work through all who allow themselves to be reconciled to Him. Heaven is fully invested in reconciling us despite the wreck we have created. Once we abide in Christ, and He abides in us, we become instruments or mechanisms of reconciliation.

 

Translation: Just as God reconciled the wrecks that you and I have made between heaven and earth, He expects us to reconcile the wrecks that we make between ourselves–even if we are not the cause of them, we are the solution.