Do you remember the first job you wanted to have? I do. I thought, as a 6-year-old, that the best job in the world would be as the owner of a jellybean company. That way, I could have all the jellybeans I wanted, and no one could stop me. I was the owner.
After several decades I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Soon after, as a teenager watching all the big rigs roaring past my grandfather’s sawmill, I wanted to be a truck driver. No dice.
Later in life, I wondered if it wouldn’t be a neat job to be an ambassador. An ambassador represents, as a single person, an entity, usually a country, bigger than themselves. You get to be kind of a big shot. But for Paul the Apostle, it didn’t always work out that way. Writing from jail:
“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” [Ephesians 6:19-20]
Here’s the thing. ALL Christians are ambassadors:
“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.” [II Corinthians 5:20]
We represent Jesus to the outside world, oftentimes without saying a word:
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.“[Matthew 5:16]
Finally, an ambassador is a citizen visiting another country. An ambassador for Jesus is visiting from another world:
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”[Philippians 3:20]
Blessings,
Keith
P.S.–a brother in a men’s Bible study mentioned a statement he had read, and it’s one of those sayings that has more import the more you read it: “Man is never more excellent as when he is trying to be more excellent.”