I recently
had the opportunity to hear a presentation by Gary Grappo, former U.S. Ambassador
to Oman. Ambassador Grappo related how difficult it is to get information on
time sensitive threats out to the public. “When you are an Ambassador you are
concerned for the safety, security and welfare of the Americans where you are
assigned. The worst news an American Ambassador can get is a phone call in the
middle of the night that something has happened to an American citizen.” For
me, the ambassador’s comments offered an interesting perspective that can be
applied to believers and our role as Ambassadors for Christ. Paul said, “We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through
us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2
Cor 5:20 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----What chance do we have to convince people today of anything? Actual thinking amongst the masses is hard to find. Persuasion is carried on the waves of popularity and personality far more than solid thinking and factual observations. And please don‘t confuse factual observations with statistics. Those are two different things. Ideas are accepted and believed far more often when heard from admired and respected people than from just anyone who‘s come to know something. When the common schlepper with something important to know keeps hammering a concern, he becomes the village annoyance. Then if he persists, he becomes the village idiot. But should Meryl Streep’s lips spew forth the same cause, everyone would listen! (Except me.) So you don‘t find knowledgeable schleppers invited before Congress; you find Hollywood‘s best. And the more they are blinded by the light, the better.
-----But this is ok. For God does not call the public. The road to destruction must be wide so the public will fit upon it. God calls individuals.
-----I’ve often pondered what is meant by God’s calling the redeemed. I’ve often wondered why only the called come to travel the narrow road, and how that call goes forth. I think Ecclesiastes 10:2 has something to do with it. I think the heart and mind implacable by anything but the truth has something to do with its eventually being called to redemption. Even before they have turned to Him, maybe God knows His own by their taste for truth. They are the kind who will respond to His light when it shines. To them, substance is more the issue than popularity by proxy. They are the ones who will listen to the village idiot, then walk away with new life.
-----My whole life I always rather suspected God was found against the public flow. So I think Paul picked a plump metaphor in “ambassadors”. It isn’t merely a thing of being in a foreign land. Ambassadors must often work against political and cultural flows completely foreign to their nature while holding to what they represent so their kindred souls also swimming upstream will be served. We must hold to the good sense of the Word in this foolish world rather than surrendering that sense to manipulation, embellishment, and compromise made for broader public acceptance. Had God called the general public, they would take Him at His undistorted Word, not the surrendered Word. But He hasn’t. So it doesn’t. Then ambassadors are for the called, not the public. Face it: they’re wiser, and they have more assurance.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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