Daily Manna: Ministers Of Reconciliation

Tuesday 10, September 2013

TEXT: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:10-21

KEY VERSE: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Saint Francis, reflecting on a story he heard of a mountaineer in the Alps, who had risked his life to save a sheep, says: “Oh, God, if such was the earnestness of this shepherd in seeking for a lowly animal, which had probably been frozen on the glazier, how is it that I am so indifferent in seeking my sheep?”

The transformation or regeneration through the Lord Jesus Christ does not terminate at sonship, but at shepherdship. The grace that transforms a sinner into a saint is the same that transforms a saint into a shepherd.

Immediately a person is saved, he becomes a minister of reconciliation and an ambassador of Christ. As ambassador of Christ, it is the responsibility of every believer to reach out to people on the street with the good news of salvation which comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. When normal services like electricity, roads, water, fuel and so on, are in short supply, people accuse the government of incompetence. Similarly, when souls are not saved, angels in heaven accuse ministers of the gospel of incompetence.

The early Church converts were more earnest than today’s believers. Despite persecutions, they went everywhere preaching the Word. But today’s believers are busy going everywhere looking for miracles.

Every believer is saved to serve. There is something fundamentally wrong when believers exploit the gospel for personal gains and self-serving motives. The gospel has the power to transform the sinner into a saint. Therefore, we cannot afford to fail God in this responsibility.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Christ’s ambassadors are those who serve Him in season and out of season.

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