"Be Ambassadors"

Victory Can Be Yours!

Article #19 – “Be Ambassadors”

            Those who believe, have a responsibility to represent Christ in the world.  We are His ambassadors!  “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:20)  What an awesome responsibility we have.  We must tell others about Him.  But, that is not all; we must also live a Christian lifestyle.  Others should recognize a Christian by his words and deeds, or fruits. 

            Jesus said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matt. 16:24)  There are three points contained in this verse which a disciple of Christ must try to follow.

            First, we must “deny ourselves”. This simply means that we must put aside anything which would interfere with our service to Him.  To deny ourselves would mean to become less self-centered and more Christ-centered.

            Secondly, we must “take up our cross”.  Christ already bore His cross at Calvary where He shed His innocent blood to pay for our sins.  Now, we must carry our cross for Him.  This means we must take a stand on moral issues and speak out against all forms of evil.  This is not a comfortable position to take.  It is much easier to stay clear of many issues confronting society today such as; the whole LGBT movement, abortion, divorce and remarriage, and many other hot-button issues of the day.  But, we must take a stand which often will cause us insult, sacrifice, and rejection.  This is the cross we are to bear for the sake of Christ.

            Thirdly, we must “follow Him”.  In following Christ, we must always seek to do His will in all things.  This means we must learn from His word what His instructions to us are, and then follow those instructions.

            We are instructed over and over in the Bible about how to follow Christ.  The Apostle Paul pretty well summed it up by saying, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Col. 3:17)

            If you are going to be in the ball game, you have to take your turn at bat.  Even if you strike out, and we all do from time to time, you still should be up there swinging instead of just standing there with the bat on your shoulder.  Much of the New Testament is written to point out sinful behavior.  Even though we are believers in Jesus Christ does not make a Christian perfect in this life.  It takes a lot of effort to live a good Christian life and there are many failures as we attempt to do that.  However, we must keep as our goal and our focal point, the Lord Jesus Christ and do everything we are capable of to serve Him.  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:10-12)

            You, too, can have victory in Jesus!  More to follow.

Lowell Parrish