CAlled
Did you know that YOU are called to the ministry? The Bible clearly says that the God who reconciled us to himself
through Christ, has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
We are Christ’s ambassador as though God were making
his appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:20). That’s each and
every one of us! The ministry is not just for those “in the
ministry.” Instead, we are all born anew into a new purpose.
God has designed a way of reconciliation and YOU are His
ambassador.
I love that we are given the special title of “ambassador.” It
implies a place of honor, a dignity in the role. An ambassador is a diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country. For years I thought that being an
ambassador would be an amazing job. In my travels I had
met several. I wanted to live somewhere in the world representing the United States. To show people what freedom
looked like. To speak on behalf of the President.
Years later it dawned on me, that I am already an ambas-
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to the ministry
sador. I represent the King of the Universe, the One who
created each person and has made a way into a loving relationship through Jesus Christ. We have all been given a
grand purpose…to represent the King. And we have been
given a life-changing message….God’s appeal to the human
race through us, an appeal to be reconciled with God. We
are the mouthpiece of our Sovereign God. Crazy, but true!
One of the biggest challenges is remembering that this
earth is not our home. Yet, the Bible is clear our citizenship
is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20). Because of Jesus we do
not live the rest of our earthy lives for evil human desires,
but rather for the will of God (1 Peter 4:2). Since we have
been raised with Christ, we set our hearts on things above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. We are to
set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:1-2). Even the great heroes of the faith lived as
foreigners and strangers on earth. They longed for a better
country – a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:13-16). When we
are born anew into the Kingdom of God we are called to live
as strangers in an alien land.