Are You Paying the Price?

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20


Peace is costly. For God to make peace with human beings, He sacrificed His Son, Jesus. Justice dictates that people are responsible for their actions and deserve to face the consequences of their sins (Ezekiel 16:58). God intervened – not by divine edict, not by erasing the consequences, but by paying the price.


Think about the conflicts in your own life: at home, at work, in your family, in your neighborhood, at church. What will you have to forfeit in order to secure peace in that situation? Maybe pride or stubbornness are standing in the way. Proverbs 29:1 tells us, “A person who will not bend after many warnings will suddenly be broken beyond repair” (GW). If we want to wreck our lives, then we just go ahead with our stubbornness and pride.

We might have to acknowledge that we’ve been wrong and apologize. When we think about the conflicts we are facing right now, have we owned up to how we’ve wronged them? No one is perfect. No one is sinless, except for Jesus. Often the first step toward peace is admitting our wrong and saying, “I’m sorry.”


Peacemaking becomes difficult when both sides have wronged each other. Insult builds upon insult. Who is the person in your life that just can’t seem to do anything right? That’s the person that I’m talking about. So much resentment has built up over time and the devil has established so many footholds (Ephesians 4:26-27) that things seem impossible to resolve. It will take much time and effort to bring about peace. Are you willing? Are they? You probably won’t know until you’ve taken the first step.


Take that first step as soon as you can. Pray about it, then own up to how you’ve wronged them, regardless of how they’ve wronged you. Ask God to forgive you. Ask the other person to forgive you. You might want to write out your thoughts first. Focus on what you need to do to reconcile. Don’t focus on how great it would be to change the other person so that your life could be easier.


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