40 DAYS – Time with God – Day 4

₇For our life is a matter of faith, not of sight. ₈We are full of courage and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and be at home with the Lord. ₉More than anything else, however, we want to please him, whether in our home here or there. ₁₀For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by him. We will each receive what we deserve, according to everything we have done, good or bad, in our bodily life.

₁₁We know what it means to fear the Lord, and so we try to persuade others. God knows us completely, and I hope that in your hearts you know me as well. ₁₂We are not trying again to recommend ourselves to you; rather, we are trying to give you a good reason to be proud of us, so that you will be able to answer those who boast about people's appearance and not about their character. ₁₃Are we really insane? It is for God's sake. Or are we sane? Then it is for your sake. ₁₄We are ruled by the love of Christ, now that we recognize that one man died for everyone, which means that all share in his death. ₁₅He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but only for him who died and was raised to life for their sake.

₁₆No longer, then, do we judge anyone by human standards. Even if at one time we judged Christ according to human standards, we no longer do so. ₁₇Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come. ₁₈All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. ₁₉Our message is that God was making the whole human race his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends.

₂₀Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ's behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends! ₂₁Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.