Follow-up Versus
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
14 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.
16 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.
Pondering Point
Have you joined the ranks of those recognizing that we’re more than citizens of God’s kingdom, but also ambassadors? In fact the country we currently live in isn’t even our own. Remember that, like Abraham our citizenship is in heaven (Hebrews 11:10).
Prayer for the Day
Father God, help me learn to look at people through a new lens, one provided by You while I serve as Your ambassador amid this world of people in need of reconciliation with You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
in lieu of a MG moment this week, we listen in on a description of how the social media world views people – a significant contrast to how God and the Apostle Paul view people that you read about in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21.
Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook now calls himself a “conscientious objector” to social media. In an interview with Axios, he begrudgingly admitted, “God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains. The thought process that went into
building these applications, Facebook being the first of them... was all about: “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?” And that means that we need to give you we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or post or whatever. That's going to get you to contribute more content and that's going to get you… more likes and more comments. It’s a social-validation feedback loop, exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.
J.M. Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, p. 38
Prayer Prompt
[Insert your own prayer about today's devotion.]