DAY 2 OF WEEK 3
ARE YOU REFLECTING CHRIST?
Luke 4:18-19
As His ambassadors, God has entrusted to us His message of reconciliation and God is making His appeal through us. An ambassador does not represent his own interests, but the interests of the ruler he represents. The big question, then, is what are the primary interests of our King? What are His desires, values, and priorities?
Luke 4:18-19
As His ambassadors, God has entrusted to us His message of reconciliation and God is making His appeal through us. An ambassador does not represent his own interests, but the interests of the ruler he represents. The big question, then, is what are the primary interests of our King? What are His desires, values, and priorities?
Jesus was incredibly clear about His mission: proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom to those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18-19). As we read through the gospels He may restate it somewhat, but He returns to this over and over again. We can repeatedly see Jesus living this out as He seeks the lost and serves the least.
Eliminating pain, poverty, and suffering are noble goals, BUT the elimination of these things alone will we not bring people true contentment. If modern western culture has taught us anything it is that we can have access to everything we want, attempt to minimize pain and suffering, and still live empty lives. By addressing the obvious external needs we win the opportunity to address the most important spiritual needs of people’s lives. This is Jesus 101. Jesus always addressed both the obvious external needs and the deeper internal needs. If we don’t address the deepest need of the human soul which is to know God, we’ve just given people in our community, our culture, and this world a repackaged version of empty consumerism.
Adapted From: http://shortdailydevotions.com/2-corinthians-520-ambassadors-for-christ/
