NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

February 16

Scripture focus: 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 burgeons! 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 he 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 them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you. 2 Corinthians 5:16-20 MSG

For the last few days you’ve heard some snippets of conversation from people all around the world who are all over the map spiritually. Isn’t that cool?

One of the lessons I’ve learned from listening to others is that evaluating others may not be the best use of my time. However, I really love the process of engaging in thoughtful conversations with others who want to think about how knowing God might alter how we evaluate our own lives.

I love thinking about the implications and possibilities of a fresh start for: someone six days clean and sober, a convicted pedophile, an unemployed father of four, an eager seminary graduate starting his or her first job, a wife who just discovered her husband is gay, a young couple dealing with infertility, a husband who just caught his wife cheating with his best friend, a freshman in college trying to decide how to have a successful college experience, a lonely young man without many social skills trying to find friends in a new town, a pastor with a dark secret sin, a homeless kid on the streets (because that’s safer than living at home).

I love the sound of a fresh start.

My heart breaks at all the reasons we might need one.

Seeking after a faith-filled life is not for sissies.

May we join in prayer for each other as we deal with God’s task, given to us, to tell everyone what he is doing.

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