Lesson 40: God's Ambassador

"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.

It must have been hard for God’s people to "do good" when Jeremiah instructed them to pray for the welfare of the cities in which they were living (Jeremiah 29:7). Years of exile from their homeland to Babylon had brought frustration and confusion. Yet even in tough times, God instructed them to "Bless those who persecute you. Do not curse them" (Romans 12:14).

Did you know that you, as a Christian, are in exile? This world is not our home; we have an eternal one in Heaven! Peter wrote to his friends, "I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors [so] they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God" (1 Peter 2:11-12). When we Christians "do good," our behavior is a testimony to God's goodness. We are preaching with our actions!

Doing good is not always easy. Even Jesus was persecuted, and He is God’s most important Ambassador! Instead, Jesus tells us, "If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world" (John 15:18-19). Instead, we should continue to tell the Good News, with words and actions.


As the Apostle Paul said, "For God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful Message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!'” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20).

You are an authorized messenger, or representative, of Jesus Christ! Your mission is the message of reconciliation. How do we do this? By praying for people everywhere, every day. We pray for them to understand the Good News of Jesus’ love and forgiveness. We ask Jesus to open their eyes and hearts to accept Him. We help them with things Jesus shows us we can do. We do this without becoming involved in their practices that will tempt us to sin, and even our openness about awareness of temptation is a witness to them!

You are Christ's ambassador. You are His representative. When you talk to anyone around you, remember that you are speaking for His kingdom! You are the voice of Jesus to the person with whom you are talking. What kind of an ambassador are you? By the way, we do not have an option in this: the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are His ambassador. We cannot hide, because the enemy recognizes us, and he will get others to begin to tempt us to speak for our self rather than for Jesus.

Pray this week: Lord Jesus, help me to be an effective and true representative for Your kingdom every moment of every day.