All has become new...

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
[[2 Corinthians 5:17]]

Since beginning work as a counselor at MTR more than six years ago, I have heard that verse time and again.

At times, I have had to claim it for myself; at others, I have had to claim it for campers, friends, and family.

The grace of God covers every stain, every mistake... all who come to Him in true repentance are clean before Him.

But what about guilt? What about forgiving ourselves? There's the rub!

He died to set men free!

We have the freedom to rise up from the depths which He has rescued us from and know His blessed forgiveness and salvation - Christ is the Gospel!

And through His shed blood, we are new creatures in His sight - as far as the East is from the West, so far has our sin been taken from us. Praise the Lord!

And praise the Lord that He has grace for the stubborn and foolish (like me).

Praise Him for summer evenings, for spring rains, for roommates, for good brothers and special ones, for the little people (aka "children"), for making us uncomfortable, for changing us, for blessing us beyond what we deserve or need, for best friends who send hand-drawn trophies for silly things, for late nights talking about things that matter and, most of all, praise God for the forgiveness that He not only gives, but allows us to give.

Agape. God's love.

Amen.

Mood: Content Listening to: Smalltown Poets, Third Verse
Reading: Um... my attempts to read aren't so great right now... :)