Christ’s Love Compels Us
We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are
giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who
take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out
of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is
for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died
for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live
should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was
raised again.
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. Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this
is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation: 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. 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. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:12-21
Are you reconciled to God? Do you accept the love of Jesus
Christ? Do you witness, whenever possible?
Consider who you know. Do you witness in a kind and caring way?
The church of the first century, like ours today, was often
fractured by divisions based on race, language, and culture.
May we all look closely to see the person inside, for everyone
is made in the image of God and can become a new creation in Christ.
It’s what’s in the heart that matters.
Our Daily Bread –