“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” —John 3:16
Today, we’re going to finish up our series, “Be Still and Listen, then Respond with Love.” Of course, our topic for this post will be that last word: love.
I believe that the verse above shows us the center of God’s love for us and the love that we’re supposed to share with other people. That’s what we’re going to be talking about today.
Each and every one of us who follows Christ is His ambassador. What’s an ambassador, you ask? Let’s start with a definition.
ambassador — an authorized messenger or representative
When we give our hearts to God, we become His representatives to tell others about Him and share His love with them. Everything we do ought to be based on and done with love.
But we know that’s much easier said than done.
That’s why we need an example, and we find it when we look at Jesus. He loved us enough to come to earth, to die on the cross, and to be a sacrifice for us. He came as an ambassador to represent the Father and to save us. Through his life and ministry, He showed us what a good representative of God looks like.
Think about how Jesus spent His time here on earth. He went around forgiving people of their sins, healing them of their diseases, and casting out demons. He built great relationships with others. He mingled with people that no one else would have been caught dead with, and He ministered to them, too.
Jesus is the perfect example of loving others. We look at Jesus and we see what kind of ambassador He was for Father. And we as Christians are to mirror Him.
The question for us is simple: What kind of ambassadors are we going to be? We know we’ll never be perfect like Jesus was. We all falter and fail. But that’s no excuse not to try to love others to the best of our ability the way Jesus did.
We each have a lot of work to do in this area. That’s not a bad thing. It just means we need to start putting in the effort to grow.
We can start doing that today.
Thinking about being Christ’s ambassadors in the way we love others, I’m reminded of this passage from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:
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.
We have our lives in and through Jesus Christ. That’s why it ought to be our desire every day to follow Him. We have to be willing to die daily to ourselves, to put our pride aside, and to truly love others the way Jesus loves them. That’s how we can be good ambassadors for Him.
Let me remind you of our key phrase for this series: Be still and listen, then respond with love.
I believe that with God behind it, this short phrase really can help us as we try to be good ambassadors for Jesus in the world.
There are a lot of hurting people out there. And the truth is that sometimes, they might even hurt us. But we can’t let that stop us from doing what we’re called to do. We’re called to love others in everything that we do, so let’s commit to doing that today.
I’d like to share one more story before we wrap up this series. I was at Home Depot the other day trying to pick out some paint for a project at home. I was feeling overwhelmed by all the different options, so I asked an employee for help. While he and I were talking, another customer came up to him and said, “Hey, sir…” and started talking like I wasn’t even there. It was extremely rude.
In that moment, I had a choice. I could let my temper get the best of me and do something hateful, or I could still myself and respond lovingly. I chose not to lash out because I wanted to be a good ambassador.
It all turned out fine. I eventually got the paint I needed and went on my way. What could have been a fiasco was actually an opportunity to practice what I’ve been preaching, and I’m thankful for it.
As believers, we’re supposed to look at what Jesus did and attempt to follow in His footsteps to the best of our ability. That’s our purpose in life.
Jesus loved others, and if He did, then we’re supposed to do it, too.
I’d like to leave you with this question: What kind of ambassador are you?
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this series of posts. I hope you’ve found it helpful. If so, maybe you could share it with a friend or post a link to it on social media. I’d definitely appreciate it.
I’ve really enjoyed this series. I know I’ve learned a lot through it, and I hope we can all walk away from it ready to show God’s love to others in the way we respond to them.
Until next time…
To your fitness!