Talking to Myself
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
(2 CORINTHIANS 5:17)
I doubt if many people would understand if I introduced myself saying, "Hi! My name is Jim; I'm a saint." I may not tell other people that, but I need to tell myself, "I am a saint. I am holy. Because I am a child of God, I share His nature."
Such reminders motivate me to live out the life God has called me to. And I need all the encouragement I can get! God doesn't call me to become a saint because of my righteous living. Rather, He makes me a saint and then tells me to live like one.
Have you ever shared the good news of Jesus with these words: "I'm no different from you. I'm a sinner, too, but I have Christ as my Savior, and He's forgiven me"? How can a forgiven sinner ever hope to live a holy life? There is one way: through the righteousness of Jesus, lived out here on earth and given to us.
I'm not sinless, that's for sure. But when I trusted Jesus as my Savior, He made me a new person, a saint. He clothed me with His goodness so that I can live out what He has already made me to be.
INSIGHT
"LORD, TEACH ME AGAIN AND AGAIN OF THE GOOD NEWS OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME. THANK YOU FOR MY SALVATION."
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
1 Kings 6-7
Proverbs 2
Philemon
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
New Living Translation (NLT)
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,[a] so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Footnotes:
a. 2 Corinthians 5:21 Or to become sin itself.
LETTING GO OF THE TRY-HARD LIFE
What do you truly believe about God? Sometimes our hearts have trouble believing the things we know to be true. Why does this happen? And when it does, where do we turn?
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