Thursday, April 9, 2009

AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST -- Devotional for April 9, from "Good Seeds"

He has committed to us the Word of Reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating the world through us: “We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (II Corinthians 5:19-20)

When we look at world conditions today we exclaim in dismay, “Our world is surely going to hell in a hand-basket!” Though it may not be of much consolation, at least it provides a little historical perspective and therefore some balance to our minds and hearts to realize this is not a new development. God’s people have always sung, “This world is not our home, we’re just a-passin’ through; our treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.” A.W. Tozer expressed it this way: “The Christian is a man of heaven, temporarily living on earth. Though in the flesh he must live among the race of fallen men, in spirit he is divided from them, as inwardly separated from worldly society as the Israelites were from Egypt, once they crossed the Red Sea.” (Renewed Day By Day, April 9). But God has put us here – that is, left us here – for a purpose. We are citizens of heaven, to be sure, but we reside for a time in this foreign country, a culture to which we’ve become estranged by our adoption into God’s forever family. We don’t belong, so why doesn’t God just take us home and get us out of this mess? Many Christians view life on earth as a painful existence they must ride out and endure, so they hole up in scattered “holy huddles” until they die (always secretly hoping to be part of the privileged last generation that will enter glory by a far more glorious path – the rapture!) The apostle Paul himself admitted how he would prefer to “depart and be with Christ, for that is so much better” (Philippians 1:23). But he put down this personal preference in favor of the agenda God had laid out before him, “to live on in this life a little while longer, staying fully engaged in fruitful labor” (verse 22). And that is God’s plan for all His children, until such time as they are called in from service and brought home to their reward. It is not just to preachers and missionaries that God has committed “the message of reconciliation,” for all His people are privileged to serve as “ambassadors for Christ.” Yes, that’s our job, to be ambassadors, representing one nation to another, proclaiming the claims of Christ to the world of lost men. Our job is not to reform society, but to redeem it! We don’t need better laws for the land, we need clearer communication of God’s truth to man. We need to be His Ambassadors, each one of us telling the person next to us about Jesus: who He is, what He’s done for us. That’s all. That’s enough!

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