If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 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. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:13-21
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 I grew up the daughter of Christ ambassadors. I grew up learning how to be an ambassador myself, yearning to give my life in service of the One who calls. Call me he did! Out of "my country and my father's household" to a place that he "would show me" (Genesis 12). Now I live the life of a nomad, settling here for a season, moving there for another, and yet another brief sojourn somewhere else, as God leads. Just last week I was affectionately referred to as a vagabond (a wanderer without a permanent home, who moves from place to place). At times I wonder if there is a "promised land" season for me in this life, one of "permanent residency," or if it will be a perpetual cycle of arriving, serving, and forging deep friendships—only to have to move on again. This keen awareness of pilgrim status can be as unnerving as it is exciting, if I let it. How to rejoice in the Lord's beckoning when friends' tears burden the heart? How to comfort when I am grieving alongside them? I am at a loss. So I rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15); and I am weak, yet He is strong. I know this. I have leaned and cried on His shoulder many times before, and He wipes away my tears, helps me smile again, both inside and outside. Ultimately, I am not even a citizen of earth, but of heaven. This world is NOT my home! Why then do I long for a space to call my own? The promise remains: He has "gone to prepare a place for" me (John 14:3)! That I may be where he is, and see him face to face. That's the hard part about not being with someone—the lack of face to face time. Technology lessens the pain of separation with live-time contact through phone, Skype, chat, instant messaging, and so on. But these interactions, blessings though they can be, are but seeing "through a glass, darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12). I guess that's why there's the idea of being ambassadors in the first place. Jesus was the "exact representation" of God (Hebrews 1:3). He helped us know what God was really like. He came to earth to have some face time. Now we are his witnesses: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.~ 1 John 1:1-4 Being an ambassador is more than living in a foreign location. Representation goes much deeper than geographical presence. It entails an awareness of delegated reputation and responsibility, along with a mindset and lifestyle of submission to the commissioning authority. In this case, that authority is God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ~ Galatians 2:20 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ~ Romans 6:4-7, 10-13 In the words of William R. Wallace: "Every man dies—not every man really lives." Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. ~ Romans 8:5-6 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ....For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I...have become a servant. ~ Colossians 1:9-14, 19-23 Unrelenting focus. Real purpose. True fulfillment. Now that's a life worth living!
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