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. … 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 5:14-16,20
How do you see them?
Daily Devotion – June 26, 2018
Devotion based on 2 Corinthians 5:14-16,20
See series: Devotions
How do you see your coworkers? How about the server at the restaurant where you last went out for food? How do you see your teachers in class? How do you see the neighbor who lives across the street? How about leaders in the government?
Do you view some mostly in relation to how they can serve you, be of use to you, and make your life better? It’s easy to see the people we meet and with whom we interact as means for our personal fulfillment.
Christ’s love compels us to see people differently, because he did not see us this way. He did not see what you could do for him, how you could serve him, or how you could make his life more comfortable.
This is how Christ saw you: separated and distant from God, under his sentence of eternal judgment. He saw you as someone he could serve, someone he could love, and someone whose life he could make incomparably better, because he knew he could reconcile you to God. He could overcome the distance, but he knew it would take selfless service. He needed to become your sin. He needed to assume the guilt that separated you from God. He needed to die for you, and he did.
If you want to live for him who died for you, see others differently. See them as Christ saw them. See them as those whom you can serve, love, and whose life you can make incomparably better. Make God’s appeal to them on Christ’s behalf. Share how he saw them and how it moved him to die. Speak of the reconciliation they have with God through Jesus Christ.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank you for seeing me as one whom you could serve and save. Move me to see how I can speak of your love to others and tell them of the reconciliation that is theirs. Amen.
Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.
Powered by WPeMatico