A Heart Like His
2 Corinthians 5:12-21
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf; Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:20-21
When we come into the presence of God, we instantly realize that we need a covering. We recognize that we are undone and unclean. How can we stand before God? We must have something that can shield us from the piercing light of his holiness.
The righteousness of Christ is what covers us. But as soon as we are covered and can stand in his presence, we have a second realization. We find that we are not content to be covered.
God is not an enemy; he is our friend. He is not One to flee from; he is the One we want to be like. At this point, we begin to long for him to change us from the inside out. Our prayer becomes, “God, can you not merely cover me but also change me? Can you transform my heart into something beautiful?”
Answering that prayer is just what he is waiting and wanting to do for us. When we are reconciled to him, he begins to put his likeness into our lives.
He wants to get us to the place where we love what he loves. If we are full of unholiness and he is holiness itself, then he must give his nature to us so there can develop between us that deep and satisfying compatibility for which our hearts yearn.
O for a heart to praise my God,
A heart from sin set free.
A heart that always feels thy blood
So freely shed for me.
A humble, lowly contrite heart,
Believing, true, and clean.
That neither life nor death can part
From Christ who dwells within.
Charles Wesley, “O for a Heart to Praise My God”, The United Methodist Hymnal, no. 417.
This is an excerpt from a book This Day with the Master by Dennis Kinslaw. If you would like to buy this book please click here.