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Devotional

Wholly Surrendered: 2 Corinthians 5:15-21 – “And He [Jesus] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 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 men’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. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

I had this football coach in middle school and high school who kept using this single phrase over and over during practices and during our games. “Give It Your All!!!”. He would often insert our last name (Give It Your All Yates!!!), screaming it to encourage and motivate us; something to get our blood pumping. It worked. Playing sports, when you truly buy into the program and believe what the coach is drilling to your head each practice, you will give it your all. You will give your blood, sweat, tears, muscle strains, broken bones, and numerous other injuries all for the chance to be champions.

Think of this passage as Paul’s way of encouraging us and getting our blood pumping so we will live our life “giving it our all” for Jesus. Jesus didn’t die for us so we could go to church on Sundays and live however we want to live during the week. He died for us so we could put to death our old sinful life and live for Him in every corner of our lives. Jesus gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That means Jesus has entrusted us to spread the Gospel around the world so that others may know the love of God and have forgiveness as well. God wants our whole life to be devoted to Him, not just part of it.

** I encourage you to use these passages from God’s Word as a resource in your daily life. Don’t let this truth just rest on this tag or on this shirt. Use it! Let it become a part of you, let the scripture be written on your heart and move you to live your life in obedience to God out of love. Dive into God’s Word, spend time with Him in prayer, connect with other believers, live for Jesus who died for your sins and rose again! **

FYI – We have a Bible Study on Facebook.com and invite you to join. New scripture is posted daily. If you don’t have a Facebook Account, then you will need to create one to join the Bible Study. So, if you’re interested, sign into your Facebook Account and search “Facebook Bible Study – yes you can join!”