Ambassadors for Christ

2 Corinthians 5:20
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Today, as my pastor was giving a sermon about getting outside of the crowd and accepting and following Lord Jesus in spite of what the world thinks, I was given a message from the Lord that had nothing whatsoever to do with the sermon.

It was one of those "deep thought" moments.

As Christians, we are called to be God's ambassadors. We are to pray for people around us who have not found what we have found in Jesus. We are to teach them how to know Him as we know Him. We are to show them the love that He has given us.

These people that we pray for, we treat them as if they are our own "spiritual" children. We love them, care for them, give them counsel, and even enact "tough love" at times. We command their respect, live up to the honor they bestow upon us, and lead the way for them to know the peace and joy that surpasses all understanding.

As parents, the hardest part of watching your child grow is letting them make their own decisions. You can't hold your child's hand forever. Some day, they will have to learn to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and walk forward without your help. There is nothing that makes a godly parent more proud than when their children learn that the source of their strength comes from the same source of strength that you used in raising them: none other than the Lord Jesus Himself.

It is no different when we pray for and mentor those around us who need Christ Jesus in their lives. We have to learn to let them go, let God, and watch them grow. Nothing makes me prouder than when I hear that one of my best friends is being a joy and a help to someone else...that they have Jesus in their heart, and love in their actions.

So, as we go out into the world, different from the world, we must remain diligent to keep others on the right path: the one path that leads to lasting peace, joy, and understanding, so that we can rejoice when the see the fruits of our labor.