2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him like that. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. 18 Now everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God." 21 He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Essentially, in verse 21 we see exactly how Christ atoned for our sins on our behalf by offering himself as a sin offering in our place. As a result, Christ allows us, through his perfect sacrifice, to once again have a piece of that righteousness of God.
Righteousness of God!
That is the coolest part to me -- because we are no longer bound to sin, because we have a real example in Christ of how to lead a godly, fulfilling life in which chains to an ugly existence unplanned by God for us can no longer hold us back from true life, we in fact have the opportunity and immense honor of being the righteousness of God. And if righteousness -- a word that encompasses holiness, rightness, morality, purity, and the absence of guilt -- is gracefully bestowed on us, then we are truly growing in God's image. Which is what was intended by God in the first place, right? To be creations in His image.
So by accepting Christ's great atoning sacrifice, therein we recognize God's original plan for all creation and express our desire to be a part of it. It is the first step of reconciliation.
That the word "reconciliation" is used in this passage is crucial. Reconciliation, by definition, necessitates a full reparation of injury and restoration of friendly relations. When two friends are reconciled together, there is the requisite apology and the forgiveness that follows, but there is also a full restoration to what the friendship was like before the wrongdoing. Otherwise, the forgiveness is shallow and reconciliation hasn't really happened. Likewise, even after we have accepted God's forgiveness and have acknowledged Him, if there is no effort to pursue His true design for our lives -- one in which we are also reconciled to the people around us and to the earth itself -- then there is no full reconciliation to God.
And God loves us too much to not want us to run after Him, to not crave His very being, to not want even a glimpse of the magnificence of His plans for our lives. He says, Please, do not let your lives be limited by living in a "purely human way" or by the flesh, or material possessions, or any sense of unworthiness. He says, You are worthy of carrying this banner, and your lives will be enriched by it.
So, too, if we wave the banner boldly, do we have the opportunity to become more and more Christ-like and, in so doing, serve as Christ's ambassadors. It is not a light task, but it is the only fulfilling one. If we allow God to inspire our lives, then others too may see and know the joy of living a rich and purposeful life.
And for the ministry of Young Life, specifically, this is the whole point.
2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: although He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.We may give up much to follow this path, but we do it anyway: because Christ before us sacrificed everything for us, and because even in renouncing old ways, we find a richness that is neverending and completely priceless.
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