Part 2, The 2 R's of Christiann Conflict

When we must deal with those who have offended us there is a both a practical and theological goal for our confrontation. We must seek Restoration and Reconciliation.

Restoration
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

The first five verses of Galatians six discuss the responsibility that we have to one another as followers of Christ. The key responsibility we have is to work to restore the person. We should help to pick them up, dust them off and put them back on their spiritual feet.

When the sin is a personal offence against us in word or deed this can become personal struggle with our own tendency to sin. If we have been hurt, we might want to hurt them. If we feel estranged, we might want to let them feel the ostracism that we have. But that is not restoration. We have an opportunity to offer forgiveness and do so in such a way that they are welcomed back into the community of faith.

Reconciliation
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:18)

Reconciliation is the commitment to restore a relationship to harmony. God has done this for us, something that we could not do for ourselves. We offended him, but he came to us in reconciliation. We betrayed him and walked out on him, but he humbled himself to restore our relationship to harmony. We have been forgiven a great offense, and therefore should be quite thankful. Then he released us to do the same with others.

As those who have been forgiven we have the motivation and power to live out lives of reconciliation. We share how people can be reconciled to God, but we also seek to restore broken relationships in our own lives. It is part of our being, to be reconcilers. When we are offended or hurt, we remember how we have been forgiven our own offences by God and we seek to repair and heal the relationship.

It’s not that we are so shined up and clean that we never offend or disagree or hurt one another. But when that happens we struggle through our own insecurities to restore relationships and reconcile with our offender.