Mom Heart Moments #170

We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us.

EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER CAPTIVATED my attention many years ago when, as a young missionary, I was challenged to move into Communist Eastern Europe to draw people to Christ. I accepted the challenge, and part of the preparation was a great deal of training. One of the pictures of ministry presented to us then has stayed with me all these years and influenced my parenting —the idea that I am to be an ambassador for Christ.

An ambassador is a diplomat of the highest rank chosen to represent his or her country in a foreign land. As such, ambassadors must represent the messages, values, and wishes of the country they represent. They must also maintain the highest character so that their position of influence will impact the people they serve in the most positive manner. In today’s verse, Paul’s description of us as “ambassadors for Christ” to the nonbelieving world beautifully captures the idea: “as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

I caught a picture in my young life that as an ambassador for Jesus and His Kingdom, I was to represent His love by being generously loving and kind. As He is righteous, I was to be righteous; I was to practice godly integrity in front of the people I was seeking to reach. As an ambassador of Christ, I was to represent Him in every situation. Consequently, when God blessed me with children, I already had in mind that I would prepare them to become the best representatives, the best ambassadors for Christ, wherever He would lead them.

Are you aware that you, too, are an ambassador? What might change to make you a more effective one?