Miscalculations of the Reconciliation Equation

Grace + Truth over Time = Reconciliation
This equation is not easy to live in the real world. Even at our best we sometimes make some miscalculations and reach a different outcome than we had hoped for. Here's a few of the most common miscalculations:

Truth - Grace over Time = Judgment
This is truth with no grace. This is trying to reconcile our relationship with God and with each other by the letter of the law. This equation judges a relationship by how well we have kept the rules. Truth without Grace eventually destroys relationship. The entire Old Testament is full of laws that the people tried and tried to keep perfectly...but to no avail. It did not save their relationship with God or with each other. It wasn't until Jesus came full of grace and truth that reconciliation became possible for all people. Galatians 5:4 says, "You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."

Grace - Truth over Time = License (or enabling)
This is grace with no truth. This is trying to reconcile our relationships by always overlooking the wrong. It's like handing someone a license to sin. This is the attitude, "Hey, I can sin all I want against God and against other people because their going to forgive me anyway!" It's like a battered wife always allowing her abusive husband to come home, even though nothing in him has changed. It's like the parent of a rebellious teenager always bailing them out of trouble and never letting them experience the natural consequences of their actions. Grace without truth is directionless and chaotic, it can can bring insecurity in our relationships because it has no structure (truth). Romans 6:15 says, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" We do need guardrails, guidelines, truth to go along with a healthy dose of grace to bring about reconciliation between us and God and in our human relationships!

There are many other miscalculations we can make that produce things like insecurity, mistrust, irrelevance and isolation. Our goal is to commit to a lifelong pursuit of reconciliation: First with God and then with other people in our lives. As we do that God begins to use us as His "Reconciliation Agents" in the world!