2Cor5:17-21.

"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 us to the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on God'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." 2Cor. 5:17-21. (italics and bold added)

I love this passage. Sometimes I forget that I no longer have to deal with my past anymore now that I surrendered my life to Christ. His blood was the atonement for my mistakes. I know this. But still I find myself under the enemy's hand, struggling to survive in this world now that I am no longer of it. This scripture helps me bring back the truth of God's grace.

When Paul says that "the old has gone, the new has come!", he is saying that once you are saved, you are now living in union with God, living a new life under a new Master. Sin no longer has the hold on you that it did before. The past is gone and dead, as your new body is dead to the "sin that so easily entangles" (see Hebrews 12 for that verse). I am no longer held captive to my stupid decisions, though the devil tries day and night to remind me of them. I have been forgiven. So have you.

How can we believe that we have been forgiven so much, for free? Because God reconciled Himself to us. That means He brought us back to him. Once I became saved-- meaning that I surrendered to God and spoke outloud to Him that I needed Him and wanted new life-- my sins were no longer valid. The person that I was died with the sinful nature that devoured my heart and I was made a new creation. So why do I still feel like crap sometimes? Probably because I'm slipping in my duties of being an ambassador for Christ.

As followers of Christ, because we are reconciled to God we get the priviledge of ministering to others to do the same. (ministry of reconciliation). Christ is using us to make an "appeal" to others...like an ambassador of a country speaking to his people. Our lives should reflect the unfailing grace and love that we have been shown, and when it doesn't we find ourselves slipping back into old habits.

The craziest thing about this scripture (and I mean crazy in the most awesome exhilerating way), is the fact that God exchanged our sin for His righteousness. Our sin was poured into Christ at his crucifixion... not just the sin of the people who were there at the time, not just the sins of Judas the Iscariot, but everyone's sin. We have all been accounted for. It's up to us if we take the gift or not. If we do take it, Christ's righteousness is poured into us at our conversion. It's totally mind numbing to realize that God exchanged something of immeasureable worth for something completely worthless.

It is by far the greatest love story of all time. I'm glad that I get to be a part of it.





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