A New Creation
Oct 29, 2006 Uncategorized
It’s amazing how God works. I was just listening to “Does Anybody Hear Her” by Casting Crowns (iTunes Link). In listening to it, I was thinking about some past mistakes, and feeling a little down about it. And just at that point, an email came in, and it was Sunday’s Upper Room devotional, and it was EXACTLY what I needed at that point. Anyways, here it is…
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A NEW CREATION
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2 Corinthians 5:16-21
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
I stood outside of the church, in a slight drizzle, wondering what I should do next. I had brought my son into his Sunday school class, but I was not quite ready to go into a Sunday school class myself. My heart began to flutter as the minister walked up to talk to me. I knew this would be a hard conversation for me. I had not walked into a church for years.
I had many reasons for not going back to church: I didn’t believe that a church family would overlook my past; I felt that even God was ashamed of me; I didn’t feel worthy to walk into a church.
During our conversation, the minister reminded me that all of us are sinners. In Matthew 9:13, Jesus says, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” The first time I read Jesus’ words, I knew that not only was I worthy of walking into a church but that I belonged there.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to see others and ourselves with the eyes of your love. May we live as your new creation, reconciled to you in Jesus Christ. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Whether we feel worthy or not, Christ welcomes us.
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