From Junk to Justified!
Praise: Give me a clean heart. So I may serve thee. Lord Fix my heart so that I may be used by thee. For I’m not worthy. Of all these blessings. Give me a clean heart. So that I may follow thee.
Prayer: Lord praying that when I find myself in the dungeon of doubt that you will hear my questions. Forgive me for demanding that you solve my problem my way. Help me to relinquish control of my circumstances to you and allow you to work your will. Teach me how to be more yielding so that you may transform me from what I used to be to what you want me to be. AMEN
Read Jeremiah 18:1-6
Luke 13:10-17
2Corinthians 5:12-21
When you think of the word transform, many thoughts could come to mind. When my children were younger, there was a cartoon that came on called "TRANSFORMERS" it was about robots that had the ability to turn into super heroes. Or in other words, they became something better! I am here to tell you that once we are in Christ Jesus we become transformers as well!
When we read the words Paul penned to the church of Corinth, we can almost feel his exuberance! His writings give that reassuring comfort that because of the opportunity offered by Jesus, we may have life and have it in abundance. Regardless of our previous state, because Jesus would not come down from the cross, where because of our sinful nature we were once disconnected can now be reconnected at a better rate than AT & T or Sprint could offer.
Because we are now NEW CREATURES - A wonderful change - a new beginning - another chance - The reconnection of our disconnection - from doomed and disgraced to delivered by Grace . From rubble to rescued! From Junk to Justified!
In other words we are brand new.
The result of being in Christ Jesus, allows a divine transformation to take place upon the soul - one that is more wonderful than the creation of the world. A change obtainable because of the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
When one chooses to follow Christ, we become a person with a future. Not spiritual nomads or wanders but one of the peculiar people with a purpose. The past is over, the future stretches out before us full of promise and possibility. We are new people
In Genesis it describes "before creation" as formless. The word formless in Hebrew means confused. Prior to being a new creation we were confused. We were dead and buried under our sin. Lost, sunk submerged and dead. Trapped in our own sinful nature. But Paul says because of our relationship with Christ all of that has been removed. Our old self has passed away. Our old stuff has been thrown out. We are changed from Junk to Justified!
This change I am referring to is not like a cheap rehab job. You know where a person slaps up a few coats of paint and hangs a couple of pictures to hide the chips in the walls. Lays a few throw rugs to cover the stains in the carpet. The change promised by God is not one where things get hidden or glossed over - what God is talking about is a complete new and improved you. We will no longer be as we were
Now when we look at this word, "CHANGE" we think of something different. Something that is no longer the same. When Paul was so moved to write this letter, he was giving insight that because of the choice to follow Jesus, there would be a change in their lives. No longer bound by the sins of their ancestors. No longer constricted by the mistakes that were made the previous year. No longer convictable of the crimes committed prior to being in Christ Jesus. "New Creatures" Rerouted from destruction to deliverance. Transformed from petty to Pentecostal. Changed from set in sinful to sanctified. Remolded from Junk to Justified!
Now, many folk today attempt a change in life. Going about it in various ways. Crash diets, plastic surgery, new hairdos, fresh new clothes, we buy books, and tapes to improve our self image, to stop smoking, be relieved of addictions. However, none of these things will result in the necessary transformation Paul is writing about.
Because Jesus became our sin, we have an opportunity for reconciliation. Not a mere exterior makeover, but a change that purges out that stuff that prohibited us from serving God. Because God chose to allow Jesus to become our sin, when he died on Calvary, laid in somebody’s tomb, and rose up that third day, God allowed sin to pass away. Allowing us to step out from under the cloud of despair into his marvelous light.
So forget about your past, God has wiped your slate clean. That broken vessel you came in as, he has remolded and reshaped you and refined you - from broken to blessed. From useless to useful. From purposeless to purposeful. From despair to repaired. From junk to justified!
