When a person is renewed from day to day by growing in the knowledge of God, in righteousness, and in the sanctity of truth, that person transfers its love from things temporal to things eternal, from things visible to things intelligible, from things carnal to things spiritual.
~Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
~2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Oh beloved this truth is at the core of the great exchange. We are really, truly, absolutely in Christ. Those of us who have totally yielded in belief to the One who has called for such a surrender, brings something infinitely valuable in exchange. He imparts on us His righteousness. And this righteousness is both the the foundation of His throne and the great armor-covering for our heart.
We are becoming something profound.
We are – because of what He has done for us – becoming like Jesus. We are becoming like G_d. Yeah, this writer just said that. We are becoming Godlike.
The implications here are amazing. We actually have the potential, in this life, to Live lives that are dominated by truly right thinking and truly right action. We have the potential to Live lives saturated in His joyful and peaceful Presence.
This is not a matter of opinion. This is based on the Truth of a G_d Who does not change and cannot lie. This is not even close to a matter of us somehow becoming really good, and making G_d happy. This is, totally, about the total spiritual renewal He brings to our lives.
Friends, this is very good news! And in Him, all is now, and will ever be, very well.
