A Restored Relationship

Earlier this Advent season we observed that we live in a broken world populated by broken people whose relationships with God and other people are damaged. We saw, too, that God has promised to repair and restore what we have broken.

Let’s look at one of God’s promises recorded by the prophet Jeremiah.

³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant

    with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.

³² It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors

    when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,

    because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.

³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.

    “I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.

    I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

    because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.

    “For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NIV)

What an incredible promise! When we disobeyed God we broke our relationship with Him. But God has promised to forgive our sins and to restore our relationship with Him. He’s going to work in our hearts and minds so that we will know Him and be His people.

God’s Christmas present to each of us includes the opportunity to have a restored relationship with Him. As the Apostle John puts it, “to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 NIV). God has offered each of us forgiveness and restoration through faith in His Son, Jesus. What could be a better Christmas present than that?

Reflection and Discussion

• Do you think of yourself as a child of God? Why or why not?
• How is your relationship with God? Where is it strong? How could it improve?

Prayer