“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”
2 Corinthians 5:15-18 NLT
Too many Christians believe that the point of their Christianity is to reap the blessings of it to satiate the lust and desires for this world. Specifically they believe that Christ’s death and resurrection was meant to make manifest blessings appear as riches, fame and even desired relationships. Though this can be the case, it certainly isn’t uniformly so. The scripture tells us that two changes are at foot. Firstly, our orientation becomes the death of these desires. Second, it becomes an adoption of completely new desires. Those who have been saved no longer s el transitory things. Instead they seek to glorify the kingdom of God and Christ. Their intentions become outward focused and switch to the reconciliation of people to God. This was Christ’s mission and perspective as well. If we are to be followers of Jesus, it only makes sense that our path in life would change to follow him. If we to take on the moniker of his “body,” it only makes sense that we would do as he did with his body. He sacrificed it for the reconciliation of those he loved with his Father. Too many people come to Christ without the willingness to die to themselves or rise to him in their identities. We must beyond that if we hope to do right by him.
JOSH McGARY. COM 