Are YOU Representin' ?

Mike Hosey, Elder

All nations desire to influence the world in order to serve their interests. One of the ways they do that is with ambassadors. An ambassador is an official representative of his or her nation who lives in a foreign country where his or her nation wishes to exert influence.

It’s important to understand the location of ambassadors.  They live among the people they wish to influence. They learn their customs, their manners, their laws and their culture. In fact, they learn to love them as their own.  But they are not of the country where they reside.  Instead, it is their job to influence that country for the nation to which they actually belong.

If you are a follower of Christ, then your true citizenship is in the Kingdom of God.  And Jesus tells us that God’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Paul makes the case even stronger.  In Philippians 3:20, he tells Christians that their citizenship is in Heaven.  This world is not home for those of us who are followers of Christ.

So if that is true, then what are we doing here?  The truth is that we are ambassadors.  Paul explicitly tells us so in 2 Corinthians 5:20. In that verse he actually calls us ambassadors.  He argues that it is as though God is making his appeal to the world through us! God wants to influence this dark and dead world so that men who don’t know Him can be reconciled to Him.  Just like the worldly ambassador represents his nation in order to serve its interests, we represent God in order to serve His, and His interests are the lives of men.

This all means that we are to live among the people of this world, but not be of them. We are to walk with them, eat with them, learn their customs and culture, and to love them as our own. But our purpose is not just to enjoy them, but rather to reconcile them to a new nation with a Godly influence.

How are YOU reppin the Kingdom of God?