2 Corinthians 5:20-21
We are Christ’s ambassadors.
God is using us to speak to you: we beg you, as though Christ himself
were here pleading with you, receive the love he offers you—be
reconciled to God. For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him
our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!
The
Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois
60188. All rights reserved.
This morning, I asked a
group of fourth graders a few thought-provoking questions…”If you were
given a million dollars to spend as you pleased, what would you buy? If
you could change places with any person, who would it be? If you could
be any animal in the world, what would you choose?” The point of this
exercise was to get the kids thinking about their choices.
The
answers were interesting – and even sweet. Three of the seven children
said they would give some of their $1 million to the poor…and then spend
the rest on fun things like cars, houses and land. Two boys said they
would not trade places with anyone…they are perfectly content with who
they are and the life they have. And one girl (who said she would spend
her money on land and horses) said she wished to be a horse. But the
best answer of the morning came when I asked the kids who among them had
given his/her heart to Jesus…and every single hand in the class was
raised.
We talked at length today about how Jesus was sinless…and how He chose
to take OUR sins upon himself to free us of their burden. We talked
about what this cost Jesus…and whether or not we could have physically
endured what Christ did. We also talked about how giving our heart to
Jesus is not enough…we “have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk,”
as one student put it.
I have to say, I was humbled by how these
mostly-10-year-old kids seemed to understand the story of “Good Friday”
and its events…as well as the crucifixion and what this means for each
of us. The theme of our lesson was choices, and I stressed to each
person present how important it is for us to choose to put our Christian
faith into action. And this is also the theme of this scriptural
message from Paul to the Corinthians.
As I shared with the
students this morning, there is a difference between giving your heart
to Jesus and living for Him - and demonstrating Christian faith and the
teachings of Christ afterwards. Baptism doesn’t “save” us and is not a
prerequisite for getting into heaven. The thief on the cross who
believed in Jesus proved that. But as Paul points out, Jesus exchanged
our sin for God’s goodness…and we are expected to demonstrate this to
others…every day, in every thought, word and action. Will we make
mistakes? You betcha! Must we strive to continually do better?
Absolutely.
Are you ready to live out your faith and salvation
in this manner? I surely hope so! The start of Holy Week is the perfect
time for us to renew our commitment to live for Jesus. There is NO WAY
we can ever repay Him for all that he has done for us…but we can make
our best effort to live in God’s goodness and share Christ’s message
with others. Scriptures tell us that Jesus humbled Himself on our
behalf. Isn’t it time we swallowed our pride and did whatever He asks of
us? Will this be the week that you begin?
©2016 Debbie Robus
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