By: Juliet Constantine

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

You may have seen Trading Places, a 1983 American comedy which tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet. The plot surrounds two brothers who own a successful commodities brokerage firm. They held opposing views on the issue of nature versus nurture which was the reasoning behind their wager to conduct an experiment, switching the lives of two people at opposite ends of the social ladder and observing the results.

The phrase nature versus nurture was a study conducted to determine the influence of heredity versus environment on the lives on humans. According to Wikipedia.org the nature versus nurture “is a debate concerning the relative importance of an individual's innate versus personal experiences in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.” It was proposed that humans acquire almost all their behavioral traits from nurture and environmental influences.

Our God, who is all-wise, knew before the foundation of the earth that man would fall. He made arrangements for Jesus to trade place with us. Our Father knew that our heredity tendencies would be sinful but we could be nurtured into righteousness. We can be nurtured (through teaching and loving) back to Him. So He sends Jesus to show us how. This is so assuring, it’s not who I am now but who I can become through Christ.

As I go through life, I am mindful that I do not need to let hereditary behaviors control my existence. My Jesus traded place with me so that I can enjoy His life, His righteousness! Praise God! You can too. His gift is freely given to all. Have you accepted it? If not, won’t you?

I can now sing, "I should have been crucified, I should've suffered and died, I should've hung on the cross in disgrace, but Jesus, God's son took my place."

Our Father in Heaven, thank You for allowing Jesus to trade place with us, to bring us back to Your fold. We gladly accept Your freewill Gift and commit our lives to be nurtured, through Your words, into Your likeness. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Copyrighted by Juliet Constantine 2014 (for “Alone With God – Finding Jesus In The Scriptures” Daily Devotional)