God and sinners, reconciled!

I love the Christmas carol, Hark! The herald angels sing, particularly the words, 'God and sinners reconciled.'  Jesus, God's Son came to earth so He would die and we could be reconciled to our Heavenly Father.

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. Colossians 1:21-22 AMP 

Jesus' coming to earth and sacrificing His life, made a way for us to be in right-standing with God. Jesus made a way for us to enter into eternal life. The Message Bible puts it this way,

But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole an holy in his presence.  Colossians 1:22 The Message.

Paul goes on to warn us, 

You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message - just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message. Colossians 1:23 The Message

In the busyness of this Christmas season, let's stay grounded, tuned in to The Message of Jesus. Through Jesus we have been reconciled to God. We are now Christ's ambassadors, sharing the message of reconciliation. 

So we are Christ's ambassador, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ's personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favour [now offered you] and be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20 AMP

We have been offered divine favour for a reason. Let's take hold of it, as God intended, and live our lives fully as Christ's ambassadors. Let's do all God calls us to do, to bring His message of reconciliation to this broken world.

But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favour, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him]. It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing us to the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favour).  2 Corinthians 5:18-19 AMP