When I was a young man many years ago, I learned to keep a balance in my check register, and once a month I reconciled that balance so it agreed with what the bank said was my real balance.  For those of you who remember the task of reconciling your checkbook balance with the bank, you may also remember what an arduous task it was at times.  I remember what a great feeling it was when I finally managed to get the balances to match.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans about reconciliation. He said: (Romans 5:6-11) You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, while we were still God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

So you might say that our checkbook balance was way out of sync with God’s eternal bank.  We were suffering from a great deficit.  Jesus, through his death on the cross, credited to us what we needed to be reconciled.  Now our balance matches the balance God expects from us.  Isn’t that a great feeling?  Thank you Jesus!