A Daily Devotion for Wednesday, July 1

2Corinthians 5:11-21

Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 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 people’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.

It is amazing to me to think about how important Paul’s teaching is. He understood Jesus’ death and resurrection in a way that has allowed the world to know. Jesus chose Paul to join in this huge job, and he succeeded, although he lost his life in the process. The UR ‘thought for the day’ is “I can trust God to help me navigate change.” Today I will think more about the kind of trust Paul lived out. Paul was given a command, lived it out through a complete change of heart and mind, and spent his life fearlessly teaching others about Jesus Christ. That is trust in Christ.

Holy Lord, help me to have more of that trust in you which Paul embodied. Sometimes it is hard to live out that level of trust. Amen

Becky, transforming