He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
There is no more encouraging words to me than those. In Christ, I am made right with God. I am a new creation. The old me is no longer. Although I know that I will never be perfect until the return of Christ, I am not the same person I was before He called me into salvation through His blood. It’s not enough to just know that we are reconciled to God. As it says in the previous verses, we are made ambassadors to the world. We are to represent and spread the Word of God.
And he has committed us to the message of reconciliation. 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.
2 Corinthians 5:19b-20 (NIV)
Just as our senior pastor said in our staff devotionals this morning, we need to not assume someones response based on our past knowledge of them. There is no telling what is happening in their life spiritually. Although he may have been talking more specifically about working relationships this morning, I think an attitude of humility in conversation should be applied to any relationship, especially relationships based on evangelism. God may be softening their hearts even as you nervously debate internally about what you should say next.
As Christians, we have been reconciled and made ambassadors for Christ so that others can find reconciliation to God through the blood of Christ. I need to be constantly reminded of that in some of my relationships that I have often written off as hopeless. I need to be aware that I am an ambassador and God may be working in their hearts even if I don’t see it.
Tony –
Your insight is very true. I’ve also seen/experienced where something that I’ve said or done that seemed to make no difference at the time, turned out to have an impact on someone later. I think this is part of His word not returning “void”. If we speak or act as He is leading, He will use it. We’re not the ones to “determine” when or where or how.
Thanks for your continued insights… I appreciate reading them.
Linda
So true. We are all Christ’s ambassadors. This is important for Christians to know, because we have all have a significant role to play in the world. We cannot be Christ’s ambassadors to the world if we are unwilling to build relationships with people who do not believe in God.