Today's Scripture
Reconciliation – 2 Corinthians 5:11-20
TODAY’S READING SCHEDULE: 2 Corinthians 5-9(CEB)
11 So we try to persuade people, since we know what it means to fear the Lord. We are well known by God, and I hope that in your heart we are well known by you as well. 12 We aren’t trying to commend ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us so that you could answer those who take pride in superficial appearance, and not in what is in the heart.
13 If we are crazy, it’s for God’s sake. If we are rational, it’s for your sake. 14 The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: one died for the sake of all; therefore, all died. 15 He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.
16 So then, from this point on we won’t recognize people by human standards. Even though we used to know Christ by human standards, that isn’t how we know him now. 17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!
18 All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.
20 So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!”
What does this passage mean to me/us
Paul writes how his life is dedicated to the ministry of reconciliation. He says he ‘persuades people’ to live in the truth of reconciliation. Once we are reconciled by God, we have a new meaning in life and a new perspective. He says, “ The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: one died for the sake of all; therefore, all died. 15 He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.”
The reason why Christ came to this world is to reconcile our lives with God.
Therefore, as people reconciled by God, our life purpose is to do the same as Christ did to us.
That is why we should not see others in our ‘human standard,’ but instead, see them in the lens of God.
And I have to say, it is difficult. Human standards keep getting into our ways of seeing.
My prayer is to see others in the eyes of God, not my own.
Prayer
Lord, we are thankful for your love shown through Jesus Christ, which reconciles our lives. Help us to be in the same work as you. In Christ name, we pray, AMEN.
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