“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
II Corinthians 5:20
This morning, the birds are singing and communicating with each other.
One bird is singing louder than all the others. Is he telling the others about the abundance of worms he found nearby? Could he be sending out a warning about the black cat prowling at the edge of the woods? Or, is this his latest “tweet”?
Whatever he is trying to convey, it’s with a sense of urgency. There seems to be a passion in his voice.
Paul is speaking with a sense of urgency. “Be reconciled to God!”
Merriamwebster.com defines reconciliation this way:
“to restore to friendship or harmony reconciled the factions. b : settle, resolve reconcile differences. 2 : to make consistent or congruous reconcile an ideal with reality. 3 : to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant was reconciled to hardship.”
Sin separates us from God. Jesus came to bridge the gap!
He took our place, bearing our sins. Paul explains:
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
II Corinthians 5:21
So, let’s heed Paul’s admonition and come to the LORD by faith, and be reconciled to Him.
Then, we can “tweet” this truth to others…
May our lives be a beautiful melody, a sweet harmony, like the song of the birds in the trees…
“The righteous may fall seven times but still get up, but the wicked will stumble into trouble.”
Proverbs 24:16
Right before the baseball season, several players decided to retire.
Reliever AJ Ramos was one of them.
“Everyday you get to play/live truly is a blessing,” Ramos wrote as part of his statement. “The ability to enjoy the process is a big part of being successful because you soon realize that every setback or failure is just an opportunity to learn and get better. So I am thankful for my failures just as much as my success, beyond grateful for my time playing baseball.” (MLB.com)
What caught my eye is his statement that he is “thankful for his failures.”
Weird. I tend to be very thankful for success, small and large. Failures? Not so much.
But, if we change our attitude, and look at our failures as an opportunity to learn, and not make the same mistakes, it becomes a positive thing.
Dale Carnegie said:
“Learn from your mistakes. Develop success from failures..”
So, if we are thankful, as Paul said “In all things.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) then we can analyze our mistakes, and develop a plan for success.
Winston Churchill said:
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts,” and, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
Like most people, I tend to stew over my failures and get depressed. But, if I could look at them through the lense of thankfulness, learning from them, I can move towards a brighter day. I can get back up again when I fall.
I found this prayer on a blog called “A Small Work” attributed to an author named Ryan:
“Thank you, God, for my failures. I do not like to fail, but I trust you use my failures for good in me.
In my failure, I realize how much I need help. So often I fail because I barrel into a task or project on my own. Thank you for reminding me of my limitations and for providing every droplet of assistance I need.
In my failure, I see my vulnerability and sin. I
recognize my selfish choices, my blind spots, and the categories I didn’t even know existed. Thank you for pointing out my mistakes and for forgiving me as your child.”
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5
Recently, we did an Easter egg hunt in a local neighborhood. We had not been there in a few years, as it had been closed for remodeling.
To tell the story of Christ, I use a set of 12 plastic eggs. Inside each one is a little item which illustrates the story of Jesus in His last week on earth. (Actually, the twelfth one is empty, symbolizing the resurrection!)
When I came to the part about Jesus’ suffering, particularly the whip and crown of thorns, one or two of the children looked astonished and asked: “Why did Jesus have to suffer?”
Good question! I felt led to explain it this way…
“Suppose you had done something wrong, and you were about to get a spanking. Just then, someone stepped up and volunteered to take your place, and they took the punishment for you.”
Jesus took our place… He suffered and died for our sins.
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5
Isaiah goes on to explain:
“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”
Isaiah 53:6-8
The Apostle Paul said:
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:6-8
Jesus took our place so that we could have eternal life through faith in God and our Lord Jesus Christ!
An old hymn says:
“Man of Sorrows,” what a nameFor the Son of God who cameRuined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah! what a Savior!”
