Daily Devotions - Entries written by Marie Allison

FriFridaySepSeptember30th2011 Friday, September 30

Posted Friday, September 30 2011 @ 5 AM byMarie Allison Tagged Evangelism 0 comments Add comment

On Sunday, October 2, Wheaton Bible Church and Iglesia del Pueblo will welcome evangelist and author Luis Palau to our worship services. A prolific author and powerful speaker, Luis has shared the Gospel with more than 1 billion people through evangelistic events and media. He has spoken in person to 25 million people in 72 countries, and has counseled with business and political leaders and heads of state around the globe. Don’t miss this special Sunday—and invite others to join you.

We thank Marie Allison for preparing these devotional thoughts. Marie is the Director of Evangelism and Connect Ministries here at Wheaton Bible Church and currently leads the Alpha Course on Wednesday mornings and Thursday evenings. To learn more about Alpha, go to http://www.wheatonbible.org/Alpha.

Today we are reading and meditating on 2 Corinthians 5:20–21. The text below is taken from the New Living Translation, but feel free to read from the version of your choice.

20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Have you ever watched a small child beam as they were given a very important job. Whether it is pouring the milk for dinner or putting their own laundry in the washing machine. It is an honor to be trusted with the task and they beam with pride and joy.

That is what it should feel like to be Christ’s ambassador. At the time this passage was written Corinth was a Roman territory. The Emperor would send ambassadors out to the territories that were not yet under Roman rule. These areas of the country were not yet peaceful, they were not yet civilized. The ambassadors would go with the authority of the Emperor to persuade people to cooperate with Rome. They went with great authority. It was as though the Emperor himself was speaking.

We are to go out to God’s lost children and speak as though the very voice of God were speaking through us. We are to make an appeal, we are to plead, “Come back to God!”

The message he gives us to say is simply stated in verse 21- “For God made Christ, who never sinned to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Father,
I am honored to be your ambassador. Thank you for trusting me with such a precious task. Thank you that you have equipped me through your Holy Spirit to what you have asked.
Amen.

ThuThursdaySepSeptember29th2011 Thursday, September 29

Posted Thursday, September 29 2011 @ 5 AM byMarie Allison Tagged Evangelism 0 comments Add comment

Today we are reading and meditating on 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. The text below is taken from the New Living Translation, but feel free to read from the version of your choice.

18 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. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

The Encarta dictionary says the word “reconcile” means “to put people back on friendly terms after a dispute or estrangement.” God created us to be in a loving relationship with him, but at the fall of humankind our allegiance changed, we developed a sin nature and came under the influence of the evil one.

We don’t like to speak in terms of black and white. We like gray areas, but in this the Bible draws clear lines. Acts 26:17-18, tells us that people are in darkness or light, under the power of Satan or the power of God. James 4:4 tells us if we are friends of the world we are enemies of God.

Our condition sounds dire until we remember that God came in the person of Christ. When we acknowledge our need and accept His atoning death on the cross we are seen as righteous in God’s eyes and our friendship with Him is restored. He does not hold our sins against us. He forgives our sins.

Pause for a moment and let the reality of that sink in. You were in darkness and now you are in light! You were under the power of Satan. Now you are friends with God. So next time your friends say, “You must have friends in high places,” tell them they have no idea. You have the only friend that really counts.

The good news is they can too! Christ did the major work on this. He lived a perfect life and died on the cross. He just asks us to tell others what he did.

Father,
I am so happy to be friends with you. Thank you for coming in the person of Jesus to die on the cross so I could be reconciled to you. Thank you that you want to use me to reconcile others. You have given me a wonderful message, now help me to be faithful to share it with others.
Amen.

WedWednesdaySepSeptember28th2011 Wednesday, September 28

Posted Wednesday, September 28 2011 @ 5 AM byMarie Allison Tagged Evangelism 0 comments Add comment

Today we continue reading from 2 Corinthians 5:14–21. The text below is taken from the New Living Translation, but feel free to read from the version of your choice.

16 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! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Before the Apostle Paul believed in Christ, he thought Jesus was a human being, a mere person who threatened the Jewish faith he vowed to protect. But one day all this changed. He saw a bright light and heard the voice of the resurrected Jesus. He became blind. As you might imagine, Paul began to pray. While he prayed he had another vision. A man named Ananias would come and restore his sight. Three days later a man named Ananias, upon direction from the Lord, did just that. (Acts 9:1-19).

Wow, that is not a coincidence. That is a God-incident. One moment Paul thought Jesus was a human, the next moment he knew He was God. Heaven visited earth.

In this passage the Apostle Paul takes it a step further. Not only does he see Christ differently, but he sees humans differently as well. He sees every person as an eternal being. C.S. Lewis said it well in his sermon, The Weight of Glory:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

God longs for us to realize people will exist through all time and we are to care about where that will be. As we tell people about Christ they become new creations. Reunited with God and clothed with the righteousness of Christ ready to reside with him in heaven where God longs for all of His children to be.

Father,
Help me to see people as you see them. Help me to love them as much as you love them.
Amen.

TueTuesdaySepSeptember27th2011 Tuesday, September 27

Posted Tuesday, September 27 2011 @ 5 AM byMarie Allison Tagged Evangelism 0 comments Add comment

Today we continue our study of 2 Corinthians 5:14–21, focusing on the first few verses. The text below is taken from the New Living Translation, but feel free to read from the version of your choice.

14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 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.

John 15:13 says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” What would it feel like if someone saved you from danger and died in your place? Words like humility, gratitude and indebtedness come to mind, but there are truly no words to fully capture how an event like that would mark the future of one’s life.

This year on the anniversary of 9/11 we remembered stories of those who did just that. Welles Crowther was a young 24-year-old equities trader who repeatedly went into the World Trade Center building to guide people out, even carrying some down the stairs. Welles’s mother never knew what happed to her son in those last hours. Months after the event survivor stories began to circulate and some had a repeating theme—the hero was a young man in a red bandana. Mrs. Crowther knew immediately it was her son. Since he was a young boy he kept with him a red bandana given to him by his father. He wore it as he gave his life saving others.

A story like that makes our stomach drop. Our movement stills. We choke up. Hold on to that feeling for a moment and look back at verse 14. Pinch the skin on your arm. Feel the flesh. Imagine a wonderful young man, who had flesh and blood just like you. Who had a mother, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and friends. Now imagine that he died for you. You were under a death sentence and Jesus Christ died in your place. He did it because He loves you.

In these verses the Apostle Paul is saying the reality of that sacrificial love controls him. It is his guiding force through life. It is the compelling motivator for all he does. On the day Paul accepted the gift Christ gave him by dying on the cross, he died to his old life. He became a new person with a new purpose.

What about you?

Father,
I confess I too often brush over the story of your death on the cross. I hear the story without emotion. I read it without feeling. Today Holy Spirit make my stomach drop, still my movement, bring tears to my eyes over your sacrifice. Make it something that marks my life forever.
Amen.

MonMondaySepSeptember26th2011 Monday, September 26

Posted Monday, September 26 2011 @ 5 AM byMarie Allison Tagged Evangelism 0 comments Add comment

Today we are reading and meditating on 2 Corinthians 5:14–21. The text below is taken from the New Living Translation, but feel free to read from the version of your choice.

14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 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.

16 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! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 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. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

This Sunday Dr. Luis Palau will be speaking to us from this passage. Dr. Palau was born in Argentina to a family that loved God. His father was a successful businessman who would take his family and preach in the villages on the weekends. Luis was touched by his father’s words and longed to tell people about the love of Jesus as his father did. At 10 years old, the bottom dropped out of Luis’ life. While he was away at boarding school, his father died. The family’s finances were mis-managed by a relative and they became desperately poor. At times the family of seven would share a loaf of bread for dinner. Despite difficult circumstances Luis clung to God and believed in His faithfulness. He went to work in a bank to earn money, but his real desire was to follow in his father’s footsteps and tell people about Jesus. That desire came true. He has now spoken to 25 million people in 72 countries and has seen one million people make decisions to follow Christ.

What was it about the love of Christ that captured a young boy’s heart and motivated him to spend his life telling others? Can we be gripped by this same passion?

Father,
I look forward to being in your word this week. Thank you that you want to meet with me. Thank you that you have something to say to me. I tell you now Lord that I am listening.
Amen.

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Daily Devotions - Entries written by Marie Allison

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