Tuesday, March 20, 2007

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (The Message)
16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!* Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you. 21How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
[*burgeons means to blossom or grow]

God’s desire is that we would all be made right and be in a relationship with Him. God wants to be our friend. That is why he sent Jesus. God let Jesus carry all our wrongs so that we would not have to and we could be made right.

As followers of Jesus, we are supposed to continue his work in the world. Once Jesus walked on the earth and helped people see that God has already fixed their relationships with Him, and that they could ask for forgiveness of our sins and be made new. Now, because we represent Christ as we walk on the earth, we are asked to help other people see these same things, that God has already fixed their relationships with Him, that they can ask for forgiveness of their sins and be made new.
God is offering his friendship to us. It is like he has sent a friend request to every person’s MySpace or Facebook page. All people have to do is click “Accept.”

Dear God, it makes us feel so special that you would want to be friends with us! And you go to such lengths to make that happen. You have already done all the work necessary. You sent Jesus to teach us who you are and to carry the weight of our sins for us. All we have to do is accept your friendship. Thank you for being our friend. Teach us how to help other people accept your friendship. Help us be good representatives of Jesus. Amen.