Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
June 23, 2023
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!
I must always smile when I recognize God’s mysterious ways at work. I needed to read these words of salvation this morning. We are part of the new creation, so we are asked to walk into our world, no longer using human standards to guide us. Christ taught us a new way of thinking: a way through which we don’t apply labels to others. We don’t focus on the value of an individual based on earthly principles, but we look past the outer garments and the labels to see inside and find the being that God created.
If God looked at us for our sinfulness, we would all fall short of God’s glory. Throughout the Bible, we read of God’s casting away our sinfulness. Through Christ, we are redeemed. God erases our sin debt and destroys the document on which our debt was recorded by nailing it to the cross. We are forgiven because of the cross of Jesus. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:13-15
Phillip Bliss captured these verses in his Hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.”
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!— My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Loving God, We thank you for Your blessings. We are easily distracted from our walk of faith. Thank you for sending Jesus to take our sins to the cross, so that we might be reconciled to You. We Thank You! In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: When I have hit rock bottom, God’s love can lift me up.
Praise the Lord! O, My Soul! Pastor Liz
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