Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come! 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 men'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.
As God's fellow workers, we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favour, I heard you, in the day of my salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation!
~ 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
This passage overwhelmes me. It speaks of identity. It speaks of the core message of the entire Bible. It speaks of my overwhelmingly huge yet blissfully simple purpose as a Christian. It speaks of my heart's desire for people to know and understand the depth of what God has done for them. This passage speaks. This passage is life.
3 comments:
Now IS the day of salvation!!
It is really quite simple, isn't it?
My sister came to visit us, years ago and said she believed in reincarnation. I was shocked, we grew up in a devout Catholic family. I said to her:" You can't be a Christian and believe in reincarnation." She asked ' why not'? to which I replied, that then Jesus would have died for nothing; if we could come back to pay for our sins, Jesus wouldn't have had to die for them.
I'm sure the Holy Spirit gave me the answer.
"Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
Hebrews 9:27/28
I remember " It is once for man to be born and once to die and then the judgment", but I'm not sure if it is written that way in the bible.
I found your blog mentioned on Notes on a Napkin, and am enjoying reading your posts. I also recently wrote on this verse. My brother and sister and I give each other "sibling assignments" each week, and last week the theme was reconciliation. Go here at http://silvervalleystories.blogspot.com/2007/12/ministry-of-reconciliation.html and check it out. I'll continue to visit your blog. Please come visit me as well.
Post a Comment