Daily Devotional for Friday, July 8

Sacrifice for Sin

Second Corinthians 5:21 gives the gospel from both sides—God’s and yours. God made Jesus to be sin for you. God, in His grace, gave a sinner like you His best, His only begotten Son. Jesus lowered Himself to become human to save humanity. He took the form of a servant, gave up His glory (at least some of it), and became sin for you. To be clear, Jesus never experienced sin—never having known sin. You really cannot imagine how much God gave when He gave His Son for you. You really cannot fathom how much Jesus gave up to become sin for you. 

Now for your side. You are the sinner. Instead of giving you what you deserved—eternal punishment in hell—God gave you His righteousness in Christ. God accounted Christ’s righteousness to you. You could never measure up to God’s standard of righteousness, so Christ had to do it for you. Jesus traded His righteousness for your sins. You traded your sins for His righteousness. The gospel is amazing! 

You owe God a debt you could never pay, but that debt has been paid by Jesus. Knowledge of your salvation is what motivates you to serve the Lord faithfully. One act of faithful service in the passage for today is the ministry of reconciliation (verse 18). This is a way of saying you have been given the service of witnessing to others that they too might be saved. Since God has done much for you, can you not do this for Him?

Thought: Jesus became sin that you might be right with God. 

Phillip Miller