Do you ever have that one verse that when you read it you are blown away? At the risk of making it super overdramatic, time seems to stop as the verse penetrates right to the core of who you are. You think to yourself, how have I never caught this. Or if you are like me you think, why is this not already part of who I am? I recently experiences this type of journey and thought process for myself through the reading of 2 Corinthians 5: 13-15.
Paul writes: “If we are out of our minds, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right minds, it is for you. For Christ love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
This is the type of passage that immediately speaks to who we should be as Christians. However, the context of this verse gives us a glimpse into what it will really take to live as a Christ follower. When Paul actually traveled to Corinth he was able to start a great work and we see in his first writing to them that problems arose after he left. After he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians false prophets showed up and sought to destroy the ministry of Paul by saying that he was out of his mind and that he was crazy. They touted him as an outcast of society. When Paul decides to address this in 2 Cor. 5: 13 he shows that he has no problem being different or an outcast.
Paul’s love for Christ is so great so compelling that he begs the people to see him as crazy, as different. He puts aside everything he is to see that God shines through him. Can we say that about our lives? Are we ready to allow the full love of Christ to shine through us? Are you ready to be called crazy?
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