Why we do what we do: Ambassadors for Christ

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us”
 
2 Corinthians 5:20
 
This should be the central reason to everything we do. We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is using us to represent Jesus to the world. We are how the world will see his love. We are how the world will hear about his grace. We are how the world will see that He gives life in all its fullness – abundant joy filled life. Everything we do should be done to represent Jesus well to the world. That should affect our attitude to everything – in all things we represent Jesus so we must do everything in a way that gives glory to Him. That is a huge challenge and won’t be easy, but will be so rewarding when people can see His glory through us and come to know Him.
 
We do what we do because we are ambassadors for Christ. That means we work as ambassadors. We spend our free time as ambassadors. We spend our money as ambassadors. We have relationships as ambassadors. In all things we are ambassadors for Christ and in all that we do we do it to point people to Jesus. That is the master plan, the blueprint for our lives.
The way the world we see Jesus is through us – through the way we live our lives. Through us God makes His appeal to the world. Through us the world can see what Jesus is like. Through the way we live the world will decide if they want to know more about Jesus or if they have no interest in Him. That is challenging. It is a huge responsibility, and it has massive ramifications for how we live and what we do.
 
In all that we do, we must do it as ambassadors for Christ. Behind everything we do must be the mentality that ‘Through me, through this, God is making His appeal to the world’. We must run everything we do through that filter. That must be the motive in all that we do – to represent Jesus well to the world. We are not merely called to make it through this life and go to heaven when we die – we are to be a city on a hill, lights shining bright in the nigh, billboards pointing to Christ for all to see. We cannot hide our faith – we must be bold and public about it, for everyone needs Christ. We cannot be selective in who we represent Him to. Everyone needs Him. The world needs us to allow God to make His appeal to them through our lives. We must be prepared to shine bright like stars in the night sky, giving glory to God in all that we do.
 
For some that will be pastoral ministry. But for most of us it will mean being ambassadors to family, to friends, to work colleagues. This is not just for those who are on staff at a church. This is for all of us who follow Jesus. We are all ambassadors. We can all be used by God to make His appeal to the world through us. We must do all that we do with that mindset – to represent Jesus to the world.