Image is Everything and Ambassadors for Christ

Image is Everything

Every day, whether on television, the paper, the movies, the magazine rack, the radio or the internet, we are bombarded with advertisements and stories that make us desire things we wish we had. Women are sold the idea that they need a new hairdo, a better body, another pair of shoes, that new purse, new dress or a man that looks like a fitness model. And of course, we men are told we need to drink that beer, drive that car, workout to get those abs, have that job, and live in that house. Why? To get all those women with the new hairdos, better bodies, new shoes, new purse and new dress. All it does it make us feel inadequate and spend all our time and money trying to be something we are not in order to get those things we don’t have because we are not content with who we are. “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me (Hebrews 13:5-6)?” How can you be content with what you have when you are envious and eager to possess another’s property? We cannot be content when we are not satisfied with what we have. But, what do we have? 

Our lives are not necessarily about discovering how not to compare what we have with what others have and learning to be okay with our stuff. It is deeper than that. The author of Hebrews ties contentment with the fact that, as Christians, Jesus Christ will never leave us or forsake us. We learn to be content because of what we have in Christ Jesus. After all, when we covet the things that others have, whether physical or material, we do so because we believe that the desires of our heart for unconditional  love, acceptance, meaning and purpose to life will be met if we acquire them. Yet, if we are honest enough to admit it, even if we acquire these things, they are soon replaced by something else we can’t live without. That is because those needs cannot be met by any physical or material acquisition. They were never meant to do so. God placed those desires in our heart because only He can meet them through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God which is only available to us through faith in Jesus Christ. It is when we begin to rest in what we have in Christ and knowing it will never be taken away from us, that we start learning to be content. The more we discover about who we are in Christ, the less we will covet what others have because we know they cannot give to us that which we already possess. That is how God helps us and in turn man can’t do anything to us because the things we coveted from him are no longer desirable. Plus, the fear we experienced from not having those things we desired begins to dissipate.

Ambassadors for Christ

It has been said that, “In America, “religion” largely means Christianity, and today our secular culture views orthodox Christian churches as troublesome, retrograde, and reactionary forces.”  I agree with this statement. I also agree with those within the Christian Church who fight back against the “progressive” forces of evil that promote anything and everything that goes against the truth of God’s Word and Jesus Christ. However, we should not be surprised. Why would there be those in America and the world who have such a negative opinion of Christianity? God gives us the answer. “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).” It is the lost, those who are perishing, that have had their minds blinded to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by Satan, the god of this age. This world is presently ruled by Satan. Therefore, we should not be surprised that Christianity, in general, and Jesus Christ, specifically, are depicted as an enemy to unbelievers. In the middle of all that, the Lord still cries out to the lost that are trapped in darkness. “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).” 

An ambassador is sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country. Christians are “citizens of heaven.” Therefore, we are God’s official representatives sent to a foreign country to represent Him. That foreign country is the world. When you think of our role here in those terms, perhaps it will ease your mind a bit as you see the increasing degradation in morality and the flipping on its head the idea of what is right and wrong. It is exactly what we should expect to see in a foreign land ruled by Satan and populated by the godless. Jesus Christ is described as the Light of the World and Christians as children of light. When someone is lost and in the darkness, they seek the light of those sent to rescue them. Born again Christians are those rescuers. Again, while I am all for continuing the struggle in the culture war on all fronts both secular and religious, let us not forget that we are not here to change the world’s opinion of Christians, but to proclaim the Gospel so that those people will come to faith in Jesus Christ. When that happens we will have allies and fellow ambassadors in Christ to join us on this missionary journey to rescue lost souls.