Hotel Corona

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading, titled Hotel Corona, was written by Monica LaRose. The Dan Hotel in Jerusalem became known by a different name in 2020. Hotel Corona. The government dedicated the hotel to patients recovering from COVID-19. And the hotel became known as a rare sight of joy and unity during a difficult time. Since the residents already had the virus, they were free to sing, dance, and laugh together.

And they did. In a country where tensions between different political and religious groups run high, the shared crisis created a space where people could learn to see each other as human beings first. And even become friends. It's natural, normal even, for us to be drawn toward those we see as similar to us. People we suspect share similar experiences and values to our own. But, as the Apostle Paul often emphasized, the Gospel is a challenge to any barriers between human beings that we see as normal. Through the lens of the Gospel, we see a bigger picture than our differences, a shared brokenness, and a shared longing and need to experience healing in God's love. If we believe that one died for all, then we can also no longer be content with surface-level assumptions about others. Instead, Christ's love compels us to share His love and mission with those God loves more than we can imagine.

All of us. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14-20. For 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. So, from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone.

The new is here. All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

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.

Let's pray. Loving God in such divided times, it's easy to view those who view things differently than us as less than us. But as Paul said in today's scripture reading, you have reconciled us to yourself, so we should also reconcile others to ourselves. Help us to view others through the same eyes that you view us and see others as your dearly beloved. May our lives be a reflection of our new lives in Christ as we share, serve, love, and minister to everyone who crosses our path. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.