Alien Invasion

Do you believe in aliens?

I do! I see them all the time, walking down our streets, shopping in our stores, driving down our roads.  They surround me each time I step out of my home.  And I’ve talked to them…regularly!  In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess: I’m an alien.  And so are you.

OK.  Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s talk Biblical alienation.

The Bible says that all people are separated from God on account of their sin nature.  Sin has made us all naturally strangers to God. This is not what God intended for the pinnacle of His creation.  A fully functional human being is one who lives to glorify and enjoy God.  Unfortunately, many people today would describe that purpose of life as a living hell.  How far we have fallen as human beings!

We know in our gut that God is far away from us.  In our desperation, we cry out in prayer.  We go through the motions of church and rituals, but to no avail.  God cannot hear and respond to the cries of the unrepentant sinner.

But in one of the most moving Old Testament scriptures written, God speaks tenderly to the alienated:  "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands...”  (Isa 49:15-16) So even with our sin as a barrier, God longs for relationship.  Let that settle on you! This expression of God’s tender love makes me cry out, “What is man that you are mindful of him? The son of man that you care for him?!?” (Psalm 8)

God sent His Son to save us from eternal alienation from God by taking on himself the punishment we deserved. As a result, he was alienated from the Father.  The Bible records him crying out just before he died, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt 27:46) Jesus fully identified with sinners, even in their alienation!

So, if alienation is the problem, what is the solution?  RECONCILIATION! 

Reconciliation involves a restoration in the relationship between God and man. It assumes there has been a breakdown in the relationship, but now, instead of distance and separation, there is fellowship.  In reconciliation, the sinner stands before God as an enemy and becomes a friend. Peace with God is made through the sacrifice of his Son.

"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." (Col 1:19-20)

No matter what sin you struggle with, no matter how alienated you feel today – if you are in Christ, you are God’s friend. He is for you, not against you! And if you have not placed your faith in the work accomplished by Jesus on the cross, you can do that now, right now! There’s no longer any reason to be an alien.

Nancy Bontempo, Pastor at Friends Community Church in Sturgeon Bay