Christ the Center

 

I am going to change the way I do BQTT in that I will be focusing on two verses per post. These will be verses from the Topical Memory System by The Navigators. These verses I memorized in college back in 2001 through 2005. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 2:20 from Christ the Center.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

What does Paul want us to pay attention to? He said, therefore. So we have to ask what is it there for? In verse 16 Paul is talking about that we should and no longer know other people in a human way. So how else can we know people? Do we know them beyond a human way and in a Godly way? 

“Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and with all propriety, the younger women as sisters.”

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Let us look at other people as we would family! Brothers and sisters in Christ. Dads and moms in Christ. And Sons and Daughters in Christ. When evaluating relationships do we look up to them? Then we should view them as fathers and mothers in Christ. Are they a co-servant with us? Then we should look to them as brothers and sisters in Christ. If we are disciplining them and they are younger then we should look to them as sons and daughters in Christ. We no longer see them as strangers but as family! 

In light of verse 16, 17 might read like this.

So therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation in God’s family. Old relationships have passed away and new relationships have come. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 BQTT

We typically place importance on the individual’s life changing in a way consistent with Jesus. In that their old sinful nature has passed away and their new life in Christ is here to stay. But that may not be what Paul had intended. 

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2‬:‭20‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Galatians 2 talks about not living under the Law but under Grace, but Grace does not give us a free pass to sin and live rebelliously. We live our lives for Jesus! Not for the “almighty” I but for the Almighty Him! Because He loves us just as we are and wants to see us grow as sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters of His Son Jesus! For we too should no longer see ourselves in a human way but in the eyes of God, just as we should see others!