House Church Talk - Some verses to think about...

[Scott Dowlen]

I especially like the part that says "His love has the first and last word
in everything we do."

Here is the whole passage:

2 Corinthians 5:10-21 MSG
(10)  Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our
conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what's coming to us as a
result of our actions, either good or bad.
(11)  That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It's no light thing to know
that we'll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That's why we work
urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone
knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we
care.
(12)  We're not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just
thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we're on your side and
not just nice to your face as so many people are.
(13)  If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did
it for you.
(14)  Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first
and last word in everything we do. Our firm decision is to work from this
focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same
boat.
(15)  He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be
included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people
ever lived on their own.
(16)  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.
(17)  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!
(18)  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.
(19)  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.
(20)  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.
(21)  How? you say. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did
anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.