Ambassadors for Christ

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!...god has given us this task of reconciling people to him...And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us..." 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 NLT (emphasis mine)

We are ambassadors for Christ. In the book The Mirror by Max Lucado he says the ambassador has a singular aim----to represent his king. We represent God every day in all that we do...when we speak...when we make decisions....our attitudes. I have been thinking about this today as I went about my day. I left a meeting and wondered if I was Christ's ambassador. I was at the grocery store and I wondered if I was Christ's ambassador there. I cooked dinner and sat with my daughter while we ate...I wondered if I was Christ's ambassador to her. Did I represent God well today?

What if every day we woke up and made a decision to be an ambassador...to represent our King...to make an appeal for God? Does that mean that we have to talk about God or is it in our actions and our humble attitude? I think it depends on the situation....but I think it is mostly in our everyday actions and attitudes.

"God is making his appeal through us..." v20 If we really think about it, that is a great responsibility.

Today my 11 year old son, Jack, went off to 5th grade outdoor camp with his school. He will be gone for 2 nights and 3 days. Jack is a thinker and a worrier. He wondered if certain kids were going to be nice or not. He wondered if he would have to sit at meals with people he didn't want to. He worried that he would have kids in his cabin that he didn't really like to be around. He worried about a boy that we have struggled with this year and are working through some negative things he has said and done to Jack.

So we talked about this scripture. We talked about the fact that while he was at camp he was an ambassador...he was going to represent who God was to his friends. Jack said what if I have to stand up for myself....We talked about ways he could do that and still be "an ambassador"....that was a hard one for him. And for me...I don't want him to be taken advantage of or not think he has the right to say something to someone...so as a mom, I am learning how to talk to him about the balance.

Tomorrow my desire is to be an official representative of Christ...a believer who is humbled to serve my God...

Ambassador....

Representative...

God...making an appeal through us...that is a big responsibility...not one to take lightly.

Blessings,

Teresa