Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Not counting people's sins against them

Blog »    Not counting people's sins against them  

Wednesday, January 8, 2014


“from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view . . . if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  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 people’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.
"

2 Corinthians 5:16-20 (NIV2011)
 

When people scrutinize our Christian faith most people aren’t interested in what we believe. They want to know if what we believe is good and if that good thing that we believe makes us better people.   And, to a great degree, they will make that judgment based on how we view them.  

 “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - These are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”   C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory  

As “Christ’s ambassadors” God expects us to be “ministers of reconciliation”, not counting others’ sins against them.    

As you continue in your fast this week consider how you view those people who find themselves in your “sphere of influence”

 

Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl  

No comments:

Post a Comment