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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Cameras are everywhere; so much so that we must always be aware that we are being watched all the time. For someone who lives their life perfectly this isn’t a problem. For the rest of us, this can be a problem.
God tells us that, as believers in Jesus, we are now “reconciled to God” and therefore “new creations.” That’s great news, but He doesn’t stop there. Not only are we now forgiven and made right with God through Jesus, but we are now His instruments to take that news and Truth to others. To put a bow on it all, we are told that “we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.”
That’s amazing!
And terrifying!
We are the example God has set to show others about His love and forgiveness. God is saying that, ‘do you want to know Me and experience My love and forgiveness? Just take a look at Scott here. He’s my proof of all of that.’
Whoa! I can’t – and don’t – live up to that on a regular basis.
But that’s not a reason to despair. For as many times as we mess up, a return to Him is another experience of His grace; His love; His forgiveness; His newness through Jesus. Every mistake or time we are poor ambassadors and bad examples to follow, He reconciles again.
But it doesn’t end there. We get to share that amazing Grace with others. Traffickers, victims, those stuck in addictions – everyone! We get to take the reconciliation of God that we received and share it with others. We get to show them the steadfast and sacrificial love of Jesus and let them know that, because of and through Him, they, too, can be a “new creation” with the old passing away. They, too, get to experience the forgiveness and love only God can fully bestow. They, too, through faith in Jesus, can be “God’s ambassadors!”
All of us mess up and don’t live the perfected life God desires. But that doesn’t stop His grace and love through the perfect life and sacrifice of Jesus!
Praise God!
“May we, Your new creation and reconciled children, be the best ambassadors we can be, sharing Your grace and love with all You put into our midst, Lord! In Jesus’ precious Name do we pray. AMEN!”
Scott Heitshusen,
Pastor, LifeBridgeSealy.com
Written for the Freedom Church Alliance