Divine Emissary

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
2 Corinthians 5:20-21
Tromsø_airport,_Norway.jpgMy passport has only one stamp.  My senior year of college I got a grant to study in Norway for two months.  It was very clear on the plane from Oslo to Tromsø that I wasn’t in my home country.  When we disembarked at the small airport, there was one baggage claim area, one “shoot”, and one baggage carousel.  While waiting on my suitcase, a woman next to me was struggling to get her large suitcase off the carousel.  I reached over and helped her get her rather heavy suitcase off the carousel and sat it beside her.  I still remember clearly her response of “Tusen takk! Tusen takk!” I didn’t know much Norwegian, but that phrase I knew and it is thank you.  Not much language school is needed to understand that.

An ambassador has to be sent by someone.  They are not just appointed in a country or area.  They aren’t generally requested.  A country that desires to have diplomatic relations with another country sends an ambassador.  Someone has to start.  An ambassador’s job isn’t part time.  It is more than full time.  You are never “off the clock”.  Everything an ambassador does is a representation of the party he represents.  The speeches given at official gatherings to how he responds to a stranger at the airport is a reflection of the party he represents.  An ambassador stands in place of another who cannot be physically there.

reconcilied.jpgIf you ever travel outside the country for an organization or government, you are generally told that you are an ambassador for your university / country / company and to act as such.  Helping a lady at baggage claim isn’t much but I hope that she knew I was a Christian and an American because I think I was a good ambassador in that moment.  We are Christ’s ambassadors sent by him to the world.  He reaches out to us and the world through us.  We are his representatives in the flesh.  We have His Spirit within us, prompting us in our task as ambassador.  Ambassadors of the world do not have the spirit of their party with them.  We do!  Like the world’s ambassadors we are never “off the clock”.  But, unlike the world’s ambassadors we have the spirit of the one we represent within us.  Guiding us.  Prompting us to speak his words and to minister his love.  We are his tool to plead with the world, “Be reconciled to God.”

As Christ’s ambassadors, our audience is clear, our mission is clear, and our message is clear.  As an ambassador, what are you waiting for?

  • Who does He want me to speak to today?
  • How does He want me to love today?
  • What does He want me to say today?

--Zine Smith

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