Week 2 Day 2 - It's Time For a Makeover!

Week 2 – It’s Time for a Make over

Day 2 - 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin^[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Yesterday in Colossians 3:15-17, we saw a simple design to lead us to peace that God laid out for us through the letters of Paul in those verses.  I think it is so important to remember that Paul was imprisoned for his ministry during the time he wrote this letter to the churches he had ministered to.  I don’t think it is by coincidence God would inspire Paul’s words that would affect us hundreds of years later, from within the walls of prison.  Because God knows our flesh, along with the world we live in, I feel like He knew we would listen more carefully to inspired words coming from a man, while not even sure he would escape with his life.  Paul was much oppressed when he petitioned the churches… and yet he wrote of peace.  That brings me hope in my struggles!  Today, as we look at 2 Corinthians, the foundation of this letter was to prepare the church for a 3^rd visit from him, as his second visit was painful for Paul, due to false teachers.  Paul, a devoted servant, experienced deep hurt by the very people he was trying to love and minister to most.  Somehow, when we look at reconciliation with God, it is difficult because we seem so unworthy of His perfect love in our imperfectness.  But when we look at reconciliation with others, it can seem so difficult because of deep hurt we have experienced because of them.  These verses are begging the people of Corinth, to reconcile to God.  Paul is urging us to remember who we are now in Christ.  Because of the cross, because of He who knew no sin, and did not become a sinner but became sin, so that we could be called righteous, the old is gone!  And because of experiencing the reconciliation to God given to us so perfectly through Christ, we now also have that same Spirit of reconciliation for the world.  When I look at these verses, I feel such deep conviction and even confusion.  I can’t truly explain the humbleness that I feel, when I think of who I would be without Christ.  How, even with Christ dwelling in me and my having been reconciled from that sin nature that would destroy me without Christ, I still see that flesh side try to rear its ugly head.  It is almost too much to think of how bad off I would truly be, were I without Christ in me.  And yet, even as glorious as it is to know that and celebrate that, I often struggle with reconciliation with others.  Not the lost, I yearn to be used somehow to reconcile them to my Savior!  But the struggle is within the body of those that are believers.  How hurtful it is when someone within our own camp, betrays our heart.  I think of it like I do with my children.  When I haven’t taught them, they can’t be held to that level of accountability.  The hurt I feel when they stumble due to lack of knowledge hurts me FOR them.  But when they rebel or act in a way that they knew was wrong, I am hurt BY them.  It is the same comparison with those that are lost, and those that are saved.  But these verses are commanding me to remember I know longer look from the world view.  No matter what has occurred, what hurt has been inflicted; I must remember that I am reconciled with Christ and therefore, have a ministry of reconciliation. I do not have to put myself in a place to continually be abused in my emotions (or any other way for that matter) because I am called to reconcile.  Christ was not a wimp and always stood against the sin, but he loved the sinner.  We simply must do the same.  We can place healthy boundaries for our heart sake, but we must remember above all to love others the way Jesus loved us… even if from a distance and only through prayer.  And thank God we have Him reconciled to us, to be the Spirit within guiding us to it.  And there, peace begins!  What is your biggest struggle when you think of the Spirit of reconciliation?