The old life is gone; a new life flourishes ...

2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. 

Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new.  

 The old life is gone; a new life flourishes! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins.  

God has given us the task of telling everyone what God is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between each other and with God. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; God’s already a friend with you. 

How? you ask. In Christ. Through Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

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Do you ever attempt to hide from your mistakes or pretend they didn’t happen? If so, you’ll keep making the same ones over and over again.

Instead, quickly recognize and admit your mistakes. And learn to see the value in moving beyond them.

When you’ve found an error, you’ve uncovered an opportunity to improve. Take those opportunities and make those improvements.

When you discover a weakness, you’ve found a way to grow stronger. Overcoming a weakness in one area can make you more effective in all aspects of your life, after that weakness ceases to hold you back.

Accept that there are things you’ve been mistaken about, things you don’t know, and things you have not been able to do. That puts you in a position to make powerful positive improvements.

Instead of letting your mistakes and shortcomings grow more costly by denying that they exist, choose to see the real value in them. Decide to confidently deal with them and transform your liabilities into assets.

-- Ralph Marston