The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

With the enormous amount of money that is annually expended on cosmetic applications it is virtually impossible to deny that men and women are seeking to improve their appearance. They want “old things” to pass away and “new things” to replace them. Of course, we’re speaking of physical appearance; the Scripture is speaking of a new spiritual experience.

When Christ is personally accepted and believed upon as the “only begotten Son of God,” the one who believes is transformed into a spiritually born-again individual. Those things that were once deeply embedded in our human lives are spiritually removed and replaced with the Living Holy Spirit of God. That’s what the verse above means when it says the LORD “committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

Being “reconciled to God” is like changing families. Before our reconciliation, we lived for ourselves and the things we desired. We may have even been somewhat active in a church. But, when we trusted Christ and asked forgiveness for our sins, we became a true member of His family. What’s more, we want others to be a part of that family as well. Thus, “we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

Central in this entire experience is the final verse in our verses above; namely, “He (the Father) made Him (the Son), who Himself knew no sin, to ‘become’ sin on our behalf; that is, Christ Jesus took upon Himself all of our sin in order “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Oh, it’s so simple: He took our (your and my) place on that Cross! What Jesus suffered, is what we
should have suffered. Yet, He suffered and died in our place. How then does His death and life transfer to us? We are told to believe what He did and that He did it for us. He then erases the sin that was ours. He laid it all on Christ Jesus, and we experience what God calls “salvation.” I did this when I was very young. I’m not-at-all young anymore, but He saved me then and has been with me everyday thereafter. Now, I commend Him to you. Will you trust Him? Believe me, He keeps His promises.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom