Have you ever been trusted with something big? It can be fun, scary, or both at once when you get the responsibility of handling something important. In this verse—written by the Apostle Paul—he tells us that we are “ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” This means that once we are saved, we reflect Christ to the world. That is a huge responsibility. Trying to act like anyone would be difficult, because everyone has their own personalities and traits, but trying to act like someone who is perfect sounds impossible!  

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Reflecting Christ to the world and attempting to further his Kingdom sounds scary and hard. I personally can get pretty self-conscious sometimes, so going out and ministering to people appears terrifying because I worry about what people will think of me or how I might sound. This is something that I need to work through, and everyone has their different reasons or excuses as to why they can’t be “ambassadors for Christ.” The truth is, God knows—he understands that we aren’t perfect, but he chose us anyway, which is part of why it’s so beautiful that he uses us to reflect his character to others.  

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Pastor Brian mentioned a few Sundays back that once we are saved and we start to change because of our faith, we can start getting proud of ourselves. We can forget to recognize that it was God who got us where we are. It’s easy to get comfortable with the (false) idea that “I got myself here.”

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But if we go back just a few lines in this chapter to verse 19, we read: “...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” I think this teaches us that even though we may think we got somewhere without God’s help, we forget that the main reason we’re saved is because God didn’t count our trespasses against us.

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So, now we know that we are “ambassadors for Christ,” and that this is a gift from God. What can we do with that information? What does it look like to be an “ambassador for Christ”?

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Well, I believe it looks different for each person. Just like how some people are called to be pastors, and some are called to be worship leaders. Everyone has a different role in the body of Christ. This doesn’t mean Christianity is just something to add into your schedule—it's a way of life. Christianity might even be “inconvenient.” For example, I already said that I might get uncomfortable going out and ministering to people, but that doesn’t mean I should never share my faith. Would it be more convenient for me to not talk to anyone and spare myself from sounding awkward or different? Yep. But does that mean it’s what I should do? Nope!  

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A lot of times in movies I watch or books that I read or even songs I listen to, the theme is “follow your heart” or “do what feels right.” But in Matthew 15:19, Jesus tells us: “For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person...” As usual, Jesus is instructing the opposite of what the world says. I can’t tell you exactly what God wants for your life or what you’re supposed to be as an “ambassador of Christ,” but I do know that God has a plan for everything, including you, so pray and ask him where you’re supposed to be and know that he is in control of everything.

Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for entrusting humanity with the gift of being ambassadors of Christ. Please help me to know what that looks like for me and point me in the right direction so I can continue reflecting your character to the world. Please help me to deny convenience—deny what my heart wants—and obey your plan for my life. Please help me to trust that plan. Amen.