One of the most common understandings of what happened at the cross of Jesus is that through the cross, God has restored our relationship to him that was broken by sin.

Why is the message of reconciliation so encouraging?

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. —Colossians 1:19–22 (NLT)

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. —Romans 5:8–11 (NLT)

What do you notice in these two passages about reconciliation?

Why is sin such a big deal?

Reconciliation is not God changing his mind about you. Reconciliation is God redeeming you back to the relationship he always wanted.
This relationship (like the cross) has both vertical and horizontal aspects.

You [Gentiles] were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. —Ephesians 2:12–16 (NLT)

What is this passage saying about reconciliation?

The cross brings reconciliation not just between us and God, but also us and others.

In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. —Colossians 3:11 (NLT)

The cross creates a mission of reconciliation for those that have been reconciled.

Who do you need to reconcile with?
How are you going to take the next step towards reconciliation this week?