11Dec2013 - Reconciliation

How you doin? I've learned to love the headings in my Bible. Today we read 2 Corinthians 5. This chapter has 2 great headings. 1) "Our Heavenly Dwelling" and 2) "The Ministry of Reconciliation". AWESOME!!!!!!!

This chapter is great. Full of truth and promises. Verse 1, "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands." That's an incredible promise. The concept of my Heavenly body is more then exciting. Verses 4-5, "For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." HOLY MAC A LOLY!!!!!!! "So that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life". That makes me want to jump up and down. I'm not going to considering the condition of my foot. The promise of the "Spirit as a deposit" is overwhelming. God knows that it's going to take the Spirit to "guarantee what is to come". WOW!!!!!!! I love God's plan. I love God.  

Verse 7, 

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For we live by faith, not by sight.

 " That's good instructions. Verses 9-10, 

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So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

 " I can honestly say that I want to be pleasing to Him. Not to keep myself in good standing, but out of love for Him. He's already extended more favor, grace, and love to me then I could have ever deserved. His Son Jesus is enough for the entire world for the entire duration of time. COME ON!!!!!!! I need to stop being so spoiled and ungrateful. I find myself asking "what's next?". As if what He's done is not enough already.

The 2nd heading is one of favorite words in and out of the Bible. "Reconciliation". To think that I'm reconciled with the Father is hard to wrap my mind around. I believe that my walk with Christ would look different if I understood the fullness of this idea. Verses 14-15, "For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ 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." COME ON!!!!!!! I want some of that. In fact I want all of that. I want to live for "Him who died for them and was raised again". WOW!!!!!!! I don't mean to quote every verse, but this can't be missed. Verses 16-21, "

 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. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:

 

The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ 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.²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 " WOW!!!!!!! COME ON!!!!!!! HOLY MAC A LOLY!!!!!!! SO GOOD!!!!!!! I CAN believe that God has done this. When God delivered me from the clutches of addiction and other sin... He made it very clear to me that He had reconciled me to Him. The thought of being "in" with the Father is more then thrilling. It's even better knowing that it's not because of what I've done, but because of what He has done. COME ON!!!!!!! What a chapter to read heading into the Christmas season. Be reconciled to God today.

PS   Please be praying for us. The surgery it's self was minor compared to the potential melt down here at the house. Tension continues to threaten the peace that is normally in our home. Father God, please sustain us through this trial. Protect us from those who lay in wait. Lord, I ask that you send your Comforter to us in such a way that we can see Him and hear Him. Amen.