AMBASSADOR'S FOR CHRIST

                             
"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." New International Version

"Therefore, we are the Messiah's representatives, as though God were pleading through us.
 We plead on the Messiah's behalf: "Be reconciled to God!"  International Standard Version
                                                      (2 Cor. 5:20)

   
I once was at a luncheon in which one of the guests was the ambassador from Hungary. What caught my attention most about this ambassador was his behavior. He was very self-controlled, careful about the words he chose and the way that he behaved, loved his country passionately, and above all gave his all to represent the ruler and the nation that he represented in the most honorable way possible. His took his job most seriously lest he misrepresent them in any way.

This is quite a good model for ambassadors for Christ. Doesn't this describe the way that Jesus conducted himself in his earthly ministry as he represented God the Father ("The Father and I are one" John 10:30), and the Holy Spirit ("Now the Lord is the Spirit" 2 Cor. 3:17).

There are those Christians who act as if they were "baptized in lemon juice" (as the saying goes), and on the other extreme those who act goofy and brainless in the name of being controlled by the Spirit". Jesus did neither, yet many believers model their conduct after other believers rather than Jesus Christ himself, and others who walk as Jesus walked. Romans 5:1 tells us to"Imitate God". 

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." (Eph. 5:2)

Someone close to me told me that there is a man who works in her department who is a Pastor and who is "a bad person".  Another I know likewise shuns going to a church because of the behavior of Christians exposed to in the past. Poor ambassadorship does damage-it turns people away from the one whom we are ambassadors. 

Does your ambassadorship need a overhaul?