This weeks passage goes back to the fundamental truth that the ground at the cross is level for us all.  We are all included in the death and life of Jesus Christ so that we might be united in relationship with God.  This is good news!  As you allow these words to settle into your heart, notice how true they feel to you.  Is this the truth that you, in turn, live out of in your relationships with others? Might God be inviting you to soak in the reality of His gift of love and allow Him to transform you from the inside-out?  

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (The Message)

Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.  Because 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.  How? You ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

READ: Read the passage.

THINK: What implications does this passage have for your life right now?

Meditate on these words:
• “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!”
• “Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.”
How can you become a better friend to God? What would that entail? How does it feel to know that God is already a friend to you? Do you feel deserving of his friendship? Why or why not?

 

FOR YOUR PRAYER:
Thank God that he gives you a fresh start with your life and a fresh start every single morning. Let your thankfulness spill over; tell God that you are grateful to have new life in him. Ask God to help you become a better friend to him and to help you understand what a friend he is to you!

LIVE: We are Christ’s representatives. What does that look like in your life? Words? Actions?