2 Correnthians 5:17 & 18
"17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;"
This is the second week of Advent, the time of year we celebrate Jesus becoming incarnate, we are studying; A Baby Needs A Change. This is not something we normally think about; Jesus needing His diaper changed! But, He did. It would be good for us to remember this moment was also very earthy. It was "natural" child birth in a barn, where cows, sheep, camels and more were living. There would have been many barnyard smells and animal sounds. Something that looks good on the screen or in a painting but being immersed in this setting is ANOTHER experience.
To see a great perspective on this subject we turned to the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians. Here Paul surveys his life and accomplishments and counts them VERY LOW next to his FAITH in Jesus and the Salvation given by God's Grace! "...I have suffered the loss of ALL THINGS, and do count them but DUNG, that I may win Christ,"
No matter our age and situation; we are all like babies with dirty diapers needing to be changed. We have sinned and messed up the things we are living in. AND! We get our own change; Baptism is a washing and a cleaning. We become clean by this SACRAMENT. We are born dirty and God changes us. The old is gone and the new comes. Even though we are changed we sin again and need to confess our sins. AND, Jesus will change us again, and again.
Today's verses; "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become NEW." To continue our analogy; we get a clean diaper wrapped around us! We are changed and refreshed!! Praise be to God!!! "And all things are of God, who hath RECONCILED us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of RECONCILIATION;" That dirty diaper (sin) is the reason our relationship with GOD was broken. GOD is good and Holy and we were alienated from Him by our sins and willful wrong doing. Without any of our effort or initiative Jesus was sacrificed on the cross for our wrong doings and we are given His right doings in exchange!?! It is an amazing great exchange that defies all explanation!!!
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