Representing Christ

Does what you wear and say and do represent Christ or a false god?

"So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." 2 Corinth 5:20

What exactly does it mean to be an ambassador of Christ? How are we to represent him?

When I served as a chaplain at a juvenile correction facility, I often asked the young men, who professed to be Christian, if they were going to continue to represent their old gangs or if they would represent Jesus. I recall a story one young man shared about how he had become involved in a gang fight outside of a church. He and his friend had worn their colors to worship as did a couple of rival gang members and a fight ensured. Imagine that! They all belonged to the same congregation. After he told the story, and having heard it spoken aloud by himself, he realized what he had done. He had put his gang affiliation before God and before the family of God. He had been practicing idolatry in a house of worship. He had been blatantly representing his gang rather than Jesus in the church of Jesus Christ.

Most of us are a little more cautious about our conduct inside of a church building. We want to look and act like representatives of Christ within the context of a congregation. But, what about outside the church building? The Church is; after all, not a building. Who or what are we ambassadors for when we go out into the world?

May God help us to be more aware of our call to be ambassadors of Christ, proclaiming the Good News of his Kingdom for all who would believe in him.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Poverty

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

Matt 11:28 NRSV

 

Jobless, homeless, hungry, and cold: that is the state of a lot of Americans. So many are weary of struggling to survive from day to day. We live in a country of some pretty big extremes. It amazes me when the political and social upper classes speak like people earning $50,000 a year are poor. In 2012, the National Center for Law and Justice estimated that one out of sixteen people were living in deep poverty; that is they lived with income 50% below the poverty line. Imagine living like that! Those who live in deep poverty will never see this blog. They do not have access to computers or the internet. Many live on the streets. Just maybe our elected officials make so much money they have lost touch with the reality of what kind of struggles many Americans actually live with. $50,000. a year is not poor for an traditional family of two parents and two children. It should definitely not be considered poor for a family of two adults. One can feed and clothe and shelter their families quite adequately on $50,000 a year.

 

Personally, I get weary of people who have I-Phones and I-Pods; have more bedrooms than children; and, take vacations two or three times a year complaining that they don't make fair wages or are broke. I get weary when people tell me that they are "poor" when they are not poor; not by a long shot. We need to remember that we are representatives of Christ. He calls us, even as he called Peter to feed his sheep. He does not call us to build up secret storehouses for ourselves and then go around like we are in need of charity ourselves and unable to help others to meet their daily needs.

 

May God help all of his representatives to feed his sheep; to help carry the burdens of others so that they might find rest. The followers and representatives of Jesus the Christ must step up and do this as it seems quite apparent that our elected representatives don't have much of a clue as how to do this.

God's Peace - Pr. J

P.S. In 2015, there were 43.1 million people living in poverty in the United States. Feed His sheep!