Imagine this: You are sitting, having a nice cup of tea, when the phone rings. You answer and are greeted by an official sounding voice, “The President of the United States is calling.” Moments later you hear the familiar voice of the President who tells you that he would like you to accept a position as a United States Ambassador.
You are shocked because nothing has prepared you for this prestigious assignment. “Please tell me more.”
“As ambassador, you will be my official voice. When you speak, it will be the same as if I myself were speaking. Your every action will be scrutinized – you will be the face of the United States to that country.”
Now it isn’t likely that our imagined scenario will ever occur, but as a Christian you have already been given an even more important position. The Apostle Paul explains it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:20: “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.”
Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary explains reconciliation: “Reconciliation involves a change in the relationship between God and man or man and man. It assumes there has been a breakdown in the relationship, but now there has been a change from a state of enmity and fragmentation to one of harmony and fellowship.” The wall that sin has erected between man and God has been torn down.
Talk about an awesome responsibility. When we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are carrying a message of reconciliation. ”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…” (ibid V: 17-21)
Adam and Eve chose recrimination instead of remorse and repentance. Adam blamed God (for giving him the woman) and he blamed Eve (for giving him the apple). Eve blamed the serpent. Recriminations are the antithesis to reconciliation.
Contrast the way Adam and Eve confronted their sin with the way King David confronted his. David had taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite as his own, then had Uriah killed to cover his sin. When the Lord’s ambassador Nathan confronted him with his sins, David immediately confessed, “I have sinned against the LORD.” (2 Samuel 2:13). His remorse and repentance are reflected in Psalm 51, where he pleaded, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” David opened the door to reconciliation with his confession.
On a more personal note, the message on our license plate lets people know that we are Christians. But, there are days, we must confess, when we are less than stellar ambassadors. Perhaps we need a license plate frame that reads,
“Not perfect – Just Forgiven.”
Jesus Christ Loves You
Verses of the week: 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Psalm 32:1: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessings,
Your friends in Christ
Because He Loves Us Press 