So Grateful

I am so grateful that God did not call us to a ministry of deliberation or reputation but to a ministry of reconciliation! Through Christ we were/are reconciled to God and saved from His wrath. I am personally grateful for the grace, love, and forgiveness I have received! I pray I do a better job of passing it on just as I have received it. I will rejoice!

Romans 5:11

"Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (NIV)

You know I often wonder - not that I get it right all of the time - but I wonder why we choose NOT to do certain things because we know how it feels instead of doing something BECAUSE we know how it feels. What do I mean you may ask? Maybe we can convince others that we are forgiven in this way.....

2 Corinthians 5:11-15, "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. 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, it is for the sake of 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." (NIV)

Or.....perhaps you don't hold grudges because you know what that feels like. What if it looked like this: I forgive because I KNOW HOW IT FEELS. Same thing different perspective. I am grateful for the forgiveness I have received from my God and people. I'm sorry if someone has held a grudge against you perhaps they will remember what forgiveness feels like and send a little your way. Or we can do as Paul instructs here....

2 Corinthians 5: 16-17, "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, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (NIV)

Did you see that? I have missed this all too often myself - "from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view." What do you think Paul is saying here? Maybe just maybe it ties right in with this:

Proverbs 3:1-6, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Ok, can I just say, "OUCH!" ? Too many times have I looked at others as simply people instead of His valued prized creation - the Apply of HIS Eye! Oh sure there are days when I have to convince myself of the same regarding myself but daily I need to regard others from HIS point of view not a worldly one.

Then when James addresses the little things, yes they are little, that causes quarrels among us, I think it was four letter word called SELF. We are all so concerned for ourselves, we protect ourselves, and even run from ourselves. But even where it concerns our'selves' we are to be reconciled. Quit holding that grudge against yourself. You are not merely valuable YOU ARE VALUED! That is so much more! You are not and never will be what others say you are! You have been defined by something bigger than you or they will ever be - CHRIST, His death, His resurrection, and His return! So we can quit that quarreling, quit demanding our own way, quit carrying that garbage bag of guilt, and just stop, drop, & pray. He has made a way - God has deemed us reconciled unto Him through His Son. We are redeemed!

2 Corinthians 5:17, 18-21 (NIV)

(Too good of news not to include again & again...) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

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 men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 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 men'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[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV)

So what does all this mean? Forgive as you were forgiven. Give grace as you have been given. Love as you have been loved. And now look at others from a Kingdom Point of View not a worldly one. Perhaps, just maybe, we all will do a better job with grace, forgiving, and loving if we did see others through His eyes.

Abiding Still,
Chel