Unlimited: Reconciled to God
Dec 24, 2019 1549
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 (2 Corinthians 5:20, NIV).
The whole world has been justified in Jesus. Sadly, not all the world knows.
Many people believe that ‘if I am good, God will love me.’ That’s a hopeless sort of affair.
When are we going to be good enough? Is 80 percent goodness sufficient? 85 percent? 90, 95, 99.999 percent? That’s a hopeless thing.
No, no. The Gospel message is that we are already redeemed. We have been reconciled to God by the death of God’s Son. Because of that, whosoever will, may come.
We do not come in our own righteousness. We don’t have any. We have only filthy rags for garments (Isaiah 64:6).
Our ‘whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores’ (Isaiah 1:5-6 KJV). If something you were interested in buying was described like that, you would not pay your money for it.
But the good news of the gospel is very different. It announces that you’ve been reconciled to God! You come to God in the righteousness of Another. Jesus took the sin of others. We take his righteousness. A beautiful, divine exchange!
It’s like a princess marrying a pauper. She gets his debts, he shares in the kingdom! That’s the way the gospel works. That’s what the gospel is about.
– Des Ford (adapted)
Eli’s Reflection: It is a relief that we do not have to measure our goodness to be reconciled back to God. What a burden it would be to have to earn his love and affection. We are new creations and we received Jesus’ righteous. What does this mean to you?
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