What is your motivation?

What keeps you going when you face opposition and setbacks? What gives you endurance to keep going when you are exhausted? What gives you confidence and purpose?
 
The Apostle Paul’s answer is found in our New Testament lesson (2 Corinthians 5:11-6:10).
  
Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

This passage has a deeper meaning for me today after visiting a brother in Christ in the hospital yesterday who had been close to death as a result of a heart attack. 

Death is never far away... we never know the day or hour. 

But death has lost its sting when I know that I have already died when Jesus died for me.

The physical death that awaits us all is no longer a step into the unknown... will eternal punishment await me? We can face death with confidence. The punishment of death for my sin has already been paid by Jesus. 

And just as surely as Jesus rose from the dead...

Remember Paul was an eyewitness to the fact that Jesus was alive... and his willingness to suffer so much for Christ shows he is a witness that we can trust.

Just as surely as Jesus rose from the dead, we too shall rise.

My friend at the hospital sees life from a completely different point of view after his close brush with death.

In Christ Jesus, I also see my life in a new light. In Christ, I've had that close brush with death and now I live for the one who rescued me.  

He has given me new purpose: To be his ambassador. 

And what am I to share as an ambassador? The Great Exchange!

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 5:21). 

Jesus accepted the guilt of my sin so that he could die in my place so that his righteousness or perfection is now mine. A Great Exchange to share. 

Our reading of Proverbs 21-23 guides how to live for the Savior who died for us and rose again. For example:

• Haughty eyes and a proud heart… produce sin.
• He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.
• The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

However, some of these proverbs will surprise you; for example, “A gift given in secret soothes anger, and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath.” 
 
Statements like these are a reminder that proverbs are often observations of life. Solomon isn’t saying God wants us to pay bribes. Solomon is simply making an observation about life. People use bribes to smooth things over. 
 
I mention this because of the familiar verse in our reading: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”
 
We all know families in which Christian parents brought up their children in the way of the Lord, but their children did fall from the faith. Solomon isn’t giving a promise from God. He is making an observation that is generally the case that children follow in the footsteps of their faithful parents.
 
If you have children who believe, give praise to God, and acknowledge them with thankful hearts:

The father of a righteous child has great joy;
    a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.
May your father and mother rejoice;
    may she who gave you birth be joyful!

If your children are falling away, we are joining with you in prayer for them.

• Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1-8).
• The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:13-20).

Let us pray: 

Lord, bring people like Paul into the lives of the children we love. Bring ambassadors for Christ who are compelled by the love of Christ to live and speak to His glory. Lord, let me be that kind of ambassador. Use me as an answer to the prayer of a faithful parent who asks for godly men and women to be an influence in the lives of their children. Amen.