Estranged and alienated from Him

And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross. And although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities, yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father's] presence. [And this He will do] provided that you continue to stay with and in the faith [in Christ], well grounded and settled and steadfast, not shifting or moving away from the hope [which rests on and is inspired by] the glad tidings (the Gospel), which you heard and which has been preached [as being designed for and offered without restrictions] to every person under heaven, and of which [Gospel] I, Paul, became a minister. Colossians 1:20-23 AMP

I can still remember the peace I felt when I moved from that place of being estranged and alienated from God to being reconciled through Christ. In fact, I can still remember the exact place I was, on the Cowper Wharf Roadway in Woolloomooloo, Sydney, just opposite Harry's Cafe de Wheels. I was walking to work, and for months, during this walk my heart and mind had been searching for the real meaning of life. At the beginning of this search, I certainly did have a hostile attitude of mind towards God. He was definitely not on my list of things and ideas to investigate! But I was very much on His list! He knew all about me, He always had, even though I didn't acknowledge Him.

You know when I leave and when I get back;

I'm never out of your sight,

You know everything I'm going to say

before I start the sentence.

Psalm 139:3-4 MSG

After my investigations, mainly in the New Age arena, and after hearing the Gospel from people who knew and lived it, God removed the scales from my eyes and softened my heart. I do not have words to express the gratitude for that moment in my life, when I had a revelation of God and what Jesus had done for me. I am indeed blessed because I do now see.

But blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear. Matthew 13:16 AMP

We are blessed to have people in our lives who have shared the Gospel with each of us. People who have insight into God's kingdom and have shared that insight with us. Often this sharing has been through stories. A method of sharing that Jesus often used effectively.

The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories? He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. Matthew 13: 10-13 MSG

We all have people in our world who are estranged and alienated from Him. We all have stories of how God has rescued us through His Son, Jesus. We all have a voice, of some type (talking, writing, song-writing, painting, poetry etc). We all know that the Gospel is designed for and  to be offered without restrictions to every person under heaven. So let's bold. Let's push away our fears, remembering that God has gone before us. He knows everything about everyone.

Question for today, are there people in your life who are estranged and alienated from God? Ask God to show you how to share with them what God has done for you. He wants them to hear about Jesus and the salvation that awaits them.

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.  John 3:16,17 AMP