Morning Devotional 052825 Updated 2.0 Model

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

  May 28, 2025

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

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!” 21 God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.

Good Morning! Be reconciled to God!

21 God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake

This morning the words to be sin jumped out at me. I noticed that the words don’t say to represent sin, but to be sin. This is more than semantics. I remember times when I went to a meeting representing my boss. I was there to gather information and participate in the discussions, but I was not now my boss. No one called me by my boss’s name, I remained me with a job to do in the name of my boss.

To say that Jesus is or became sin is a whole other level. Imagine carving a block of wood into a turtle. If you decide to make it into a new shape, you would begin by removing the legs and head. It is now something different or new. Using the same piece of wood, you could make another turtle, but it would be smaller because you now have lost some of the wood when you removed the head and legs. 

When we proclaim that God defeated death through the resurrection of Jesus, we are revealing God’s power to create new life from that which had ceased to exist. By his crucifixion, Christ died. By earthly standards, when your heart stops beating and breath leaves your body, you are clinically dead. 

When Christ died, he became new. Unlike the block of carved wood, He was not smaller because parts had been removed, but he was bigger and better as a heavenly being. Imagine earthly Christ as the Beta version of God’s creation. Through resurrection, Christ became the 2.0 model, where all the bugs (sin) were removed.  

By God’s grace, when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become a new and improved 2.0 model because our sinful past has been removed. We are given a clean slate as we step out and embrace the love, hope, peace, and joy of Christ throughout our faith journey. 

Giving Lord, who blesses us abundantly! You have given us the greatest gift. Help us accept your gift in full humility. Thank you. We love you, Lord! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: We are no longer the Beta version of God’s creation!

Accept God’s gift and live a new life in Christ! Pastor Liz