I will admit that there are certainly times of difficulty in the life of the believer. As is said in Job, “Man is made for trouble as sparks fly upward.” So no one is going to deny that there are times of testing when the believer is doing all he/she can do just to stand firm. During these times the believer leans heavily on the Lord and calls on His name for help and strains every faith muscle they have just to be steadfast and immovable. Yes, there are times of difficulty when we need for the Lord to provide us with sustaining power.

But when the Lord delivers us from those times of testing; when the Lord sets our feet upon a rock and holds our footsteps firm (Psalm 40:2), then we are to once again brandish our sword and set our face like flint to vigorously gain enemy ground. As soon as the time of trial has been completed, the believer is to rejoin the battle and take the offensive and press toward the goal for the prize (Phil. 3:14).

When you think about it, the vast majority of the believer’s life is relatively trouble free. O yes, there is some momentary light affliction (2 Cor. 4:17) and there are the mere external things (2 Cor. 11:28; like shipwrecks, beatings and an occasional stoning), but most of the life of the believer is free of great difficulty and thus the believer is free to engage in fruitful labor.

What I am saying is this: In the rare times when you are being tested and your faith is wavering, then you are to lean into the Lord, draw on His strength, and claim His promises as you stand firm and strive to give up no ground. But in all those other times when you are not being severely tested, you are to strive with all your might to bear kingdom fruit and claim enemy territory. So most of the believer’s time should be spent in diligent labor, not praying for perfect health.

Jesus chose us and appointed us to go and bear fruit (John 15:16). He did not save us so that we would constantly be staying in the same place and praying for safety. He saved us so that we would bear fruit. There are too many prayers for safety and for healing from sniffles and scraped knees by believers who should be boldly charging into the enemy’s camp. The problem seems to be that we as believers have confused our roles. Spiritually speaking, we have a runny nose and a band aid on our finger, yet we pray like we are patients in ICU. The New Testament model, however, is radically different. We are to boldly live for Jesus and proclaim the gospel and tell about Jesus unless we are physically or otherwise unable to do so, and our prayers should be for Holy-Spirit power and faithfulness to the task so that many are won to Christ.

2 Cor. 12:15. “I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls.” Paul is concerned to spend all his energy and all his resources for the spiritual growth of his disciples, with barely a thought to his own comfort or rest or safety. The cause of the gospel was supreme and his life was to be spent for that cause, regardless of the personal cost to health or bank account or social status. We would be well-served if we took a similar attitude.

Phil. 1:21-24. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh it will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” Here again we read of the apostle Paul and of his striving to serve the Lord. Although Paul knows that his death will usher him into Christ’s presence in heaven, and “that is very much better,” he also realizes that as long as he has breath he is to be involved in fruitful labor. O how he longs for heaven, but he knows that his life is given to him to be given away for others. He ignores minor inconveniences like imprisonment and beatings and instead seeks to be useful to the Master. Just so, as soon as the Lord delivers us from difficulty, we should give all our energy to Kingdom service.

2 Cor. 11:23-27. Here in this third Pauline example, we see that the Apostle views all of these trials and all this suffering as mere distractions from the primary goal, which is the proclamation of the gospel. Whatever personal pain he endures is immaterial. The most important thing is the gospel.

Brothers and sisters, let us all strive to bear fruit and to be involved in fruitful labor and let us be “poured out as a drink offering” (2 Timothy 4:6) for the sake of the gospel. RMB 4/29/2015

(This series of writings was prompted by listening to an excellent sermon from Dr. John MacArthur entitled “Thanks, No Matter What” on 1 Thessalonians 5:18. The sermon was from 1995, I believe.)
“in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
I have been prompted to pen a series of writings on the enemies of thankfulness. One of the ironic features of American Christianity is that despite living in the most affluent society in the history of the world, there is a general lack of thankfulness among believers in America. I find this glaring flaw present in my own life, as well, and am very convicted by it. Living in great abundance and with every need supplied, there is little evidence of thanks in the prayers and the conversations of even committed, genuine believers. Listen to the prayers of American Christians and you may hear some token thanks given for general things, but sincere and heart-felt thanks for the amazing spiritual and material blessings that the Lord has showered on them is usually absent. Again, I know that I am guilty of this and so I may be projecting this on others, but I don’t think so. I think it may be a trait of fallen humanity that the more that we have materially, the less thankful we are.

So I have made a commitment to be more thankful and to have vital, deep thanksgiving become a regular part of my prayers and my conversations. To help me in this endeavor, and hopefully to help you also, I wanted to discuss five enemies of thankfulness, which, if present and prominent in my life and in your life, will smother thankfulness. Again I am grateful to Dr. MacArthur for identifying these enemies. I am taking his ideas and developing them a little further.

The Enemies of Thankfulness – Selfishness:

The second enemy of thankfulness is “SELFISHNESS.” O, selfishness is such a persistent problem, because its roots wrap so tightly around fallen man’s immense pride. Selfishness opposes thankfulness because being thankful draws attention away from me.
Now, what is this selfishness of which I am speaking? Selfishness is that way of thinking that insists that my wants and needs are the most important ones and the attitude that expects that all things are here to serve me. Thus selfishness robs me of thankfulness, because I am so focused on me that I don’t notice anything for which to be thankful. Whatever good comes to the selfish person goes unappreciated, because all these good things are deserved and expected. It is very difficult for me to be thankful when I have an entitlement mentality that says, “I am entitled to these things.”

Every believer knows that selfishness is difficult to overcome. Nevertheless, every believer should see less and less evidence of selfishness as they grow in sanctification. As selfishness shrinks, thanksgiving will increase.

Here are some specific ideas for attacking selfishness. First, follow the example of John the Baptist. In John 3:30, John the Baptist said, “He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.” John acknowledges that he is on earth for only a brief time to play a very small role. John realizes that he is a mist, a vapor that vanishes away (James 4:14), but that Jesus is the central figure in all of human history. John provides an example for all believers. We can cut the roots of selfishness if we acknowledge our insignificance and declare the glory of God. We should focus on the greatness of God and the majesty of Christ and thus attack our selfishness.

Second, we need to attack our selfishness by following the example of the apostle Paul. This man was focused on one thing and one thing only, and that was the glory of Christ. Paul gave very little thought to himself, because the gospel consumed all his attention. In Acts 20:24 Paul says, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” In 2 Cor. 12:15 he says, “And I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls.” Paul was a man who gave himself away for others with scarcely a thought for himself. We should imitate him in this and so defeat our selfishness. “For this reason,” Paul said,” I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory (2 Tim. 2:10).” Again Paul is willing to endure whatever he needs to endure so that men and women can come to faith in Jesus. His selfishness was vanquished by a superior desire and thus Paul was free to give thanks.

Thirdly and finally, we can attack our selfishness when we look at the ultimate example of unselfishness, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read of the three years of His earthly ministry we search in vain for a single selfish thought or act from Him. Jesus never gave one thought to Himself or to His own welfare, but instead gave Himself away for the people around Him. This is all the more astounding when we consider who He was and we observe that His identity was a major topic and theme in His preaching and teaching. Jesus was the incarnate Son of God and yet He always displayed utter unselfishness. Among dozens of examples of unselfishness, perhaps the best is captured in Mark 10:45, when Jesus says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” If we can meditate on Jesus and on John the Baptist and on the apostle Paul and how they lived unselfish lives, our own selfishness will wither and our thankfulness will flourish.

What do you do when your own selfishness begins to rear its ugly head and when you see that your thanksgiving is being strangled by your selfish desires? What are your strategies? RMB 4/18/215

(This series of writings was prompted by listening to an excellent sermon from Dr. John MacArthur entitled “Thanks, No Matter What” on 1 Thessalonians 5:18. The sermon was from 1995, I believe.)

“in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I have been prompted to pen a series of writings on the enemies of thankfulness. One of the ironic features of American Christianity is that despite living in the most affluent society in the history of the world, there is a general lack of thankfulness among believers in America. I find this glaring flaw present in my own life, as well, and am very convicted by it. Living in great abundance and with every need supplied, there is little evidence of thanks in the prayers and the conversations of even committed, genuine believers. Listen to the prayers of American Christians and you may hear some token thanks given for general things, but sincere and heart-felt thanks for the amazing spiritual and material blessings that the Lord has showered on them is usually absent. Again, I know that I am guilty of this and so I may be projecting this on others, but I don’t think so. I think it may be a trait of fallen humanity that the more that we have materially, the less thankful we are.

So I have made a commitment to be more thankful and to have vital, deep thanksgiving become a regular part of my prayers and my conversations. To help me in this endeavor, and hopefully to help you also, I wanted to discuss five enemies of thankfulness, which, if present and prominent in my life and in your life, will smother thankfulness. Again I am grateful to Dr. MacArthur for identifying these enemies. I am taking his ideas and developing them a little further.

The Enemies of Thankfulness – The first enemy – Doubt:
The first of the five enemies of thankfulness is “DOUBT.” Now, doubt always requires an object. That is, you must doubt something or someone. And the doubt that will rob you of your thankfulness is doubt about God. Maybe you doubt His character. If you doubt that God is trustworthy, how can you thank Him? It may be that whatever occurred happened despite God, not because of God. Is God faithful? If you doubt His faithfulness, you will not thank Him. If you doubt that God is good, you will not thank Him when good things come into your life, because you are not sure that He was responsible or that He even wanted those good things to come to you. Does God keep His promises? God makes many promises in His word, but does He intend to keep them? Even if He intends to keep them, does He have the power to keep them? If you doubt that God has the power to do the impossible on your behalf, you will certainly not praise Him when the impossible comes to pass. (By the way, if this is one of your doubts, read Psalm 115:3 and Jeremiah 32:17.) Does God love me? If you doubt that God really loves you and if you are not sure that He sent His Son to die for you, you will not be thankful. Any or all of these doubts will rob you of thankfulness. Doubts directly, but even more indirectly rob us of thankfulness, because they undermine our trust in God and make us unsure that He even deserves to be thanked. Maybe He is trying to take credit for something that He didn’t do, so why should I thank Him?
Brethren, we must be on the alert for this enemy of thankfulness called doubt and we must vanquish this before it robs us of our ability to thank the Lord. How does the believer confront this enemy? I suggest three defenses against doubt.

FIRST, the believer must choose to trust God wholly and implicitly. By an act of the will, the believer must choose to trust God. This is what it means to believe. It does not mean that there will never be uncertainties, but it does mean that the follower of Jesus has decided to trust the Lord. God no longer has to prove Himself to me. He is God and I trust Him. Do I fully understand all that occurs and all that He does? Of course not, but I nevertheless have determined that God is trustworthy and I will therefore trust Him. Doubt is of the devil, for his first recorded words in the Bible were intended to create doubt in God’s character: “Has God said . . .?” Yes, God has said and I will trust Him. (James 1:5-8)

SECOND, to dispel doubts about God, the believer must actively seek to know God by being familiar with the God revealed in Scripture and by seeing how God works in his/her life. Paul wanted to know Christ (Philippians 3:10); just so the believer seeks to know God as his greatest treasure. When you know God, doubts about Him vanish like a mist on a windy day.

THIRD, be alert to all incipient doubts and, when creeping doubts are discovered, demolish them. Residual doubts must be attacked by the truth of the Word and by prayer.

Drive away doubts about God and your thankfulness will increase. RMB 4/15/2015

I wanted to let you know that I have added a couple of “pages” to the Blog site in the last few days. These are expositions of the last part of Romans 12, trying to pull out the fundamental truths of the commands Paul gives in that passage and considering how to apply these commands to our lives. The first exposition is called “No Retaliation, No Revenge” (Romans 12:17-19) and talks about the evangelistic tactic of refusing to seek revenge or refusing to consider retaliation when evil is done against you. Why would you refuse to retaliate, when everything inside you wants to pay the other person back? The believer would do this because revenge and retaliation have no gospel value and instead obscure God’s mercy, but refusing these responses may very well open a door to the gospel and lead to a person being reconciled to God. The second exposition is called “If Your Enemy Is Hungry, Feed Him” and covers Romans 12:20-21. Again Paul is urging his readers to consider above all things the priority of the gospel and teaches these Roman believers (and us) that we are to actively seek ways to be kind to those who hate us and who persecute us so that we can have a better platform from which to proclaim the gospel. In other words, as God has gone to radical extremes to reconcile His enemies to Himself, so we who follow Jesus are to go to radical lengths to reconcile man to God through the gospel. The radical means presented in these two verses is that of doing good and being kind to those who are our enemies so that we can present the gospel.
I think you will find the exposition interesting and challenging. Let me know what you think. RMB

One of the most widely acknowledged effects of the fall of man is the universal and persistent experience of fear. Fear is an experience that is common to man, regardless of his geographic location or his status in life. It is that tightening of the stomach that happens when a threat, either real or imagined, rises up against us. It was in the Garden, when Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, that fear, shame and death entered the world and we have been experiencing those effects ever since. Thus it is with great wonder that David writes in Psalm 34:4,

“I sought the LORD and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

Is it possible that there is a way to escape my slavery to fear and to be delivered from it? Is it possible to be delivered from ALL my fears? Maybe David is writing hyperbolically. Maybe he is just exaggerating about this overcoming of fear for poetic effect. But maybe he is not. Let’s think about this.

Notice first that it is the LORD who delivered David from his fears. So the LORD is the one who delivers from fear. It is not by a man’s ingenuity or by his own positive thinking that he will escape from any one fear, let alone escape from ALL his fears. If a man fears poverty, no amount of money will ever be enough to remove that fear. If you fear being alone, then no amount of friends and acquaintances will give you security. If you fear failure, then you will be haunted by those fears no matter how successful you are. If you fear death, then everywhere you look you will see death and be reminded that the grave awaits. But here we read that, when we seek the LORD, He will answer us and He will deliver us from our fears. In the Bible, one of the most common phrases uttered by the LORD in the Old Testament and by Jesus Christ in the gospels is, “Fear not!” So the first KEY is that the LORD is the one who delivers from fear.

How does the LORD deliver me from ALL my fears? The Psalmist says that the LORD delivered him from ALL his fears. This means that David’s fears were not vanquished one at a time. That would take too long and by the time one fear was removed, another would come to take its place. David’s fears were all suddenly removed. One minute his fears were there and the next minute they were removed. How did this happen? The LORD delivered David from ALL his fears by replacing his fears with trust in the LORD.

And this is the same for any believer. When I feel fear, it means that I am not trusting the LORD. I am not believing the LORD’s promises and I am doubting that He is able to protect me and to direct my life for His glory. I am letting things that I see weigh more than the things in which I hope. I am letting the things of this world outweigh those of the world to come. Fear indicates to me that I do not believe that the LORD will really come through for me and I effectively doubt that He is able to deliver me or that He cares about me enough to come to my aid.
But this psalm says that the LORD “delivered me from ALL my fears.” How is this done? When we move from weak faith to full faith, we are delivered from ALL our fears. When our trust in the LORD is strong and complete, ALL our fears are overwhelmed. Great fears and small fears are vanquished together, because we have moved to the place of complete trust in the LORD.
So ALL fears are vanquished not by the LORD removing them one at a time, but my fears are vanquished and I am delivered from my fears when my faith and trust in the LORD is so strong that fear itself is overwhelmed.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18
RMB 4/1/2015 #22

One of the sobering truths clearly and repeatedly presented in the Bible is the truth that all human beings will stand before the living God and give an account for their moral performance. Most people scoff at this notion and go on living in whatever reckless way they want, but the daunting reality is that you and I will give an account for what we have done in this life. (Hebrews 9:27; Romans 14:10, 12; 2 Corinthians 5:10)

But if a person is willing to consider the biblical truth of a final judgment and think about that for a second, the statement will frequently be made that “I am basically a good person.” “I may not be perfect, but I am at least as good as most people,” or “My good far outweighs my bad.” One of the most common responses to this idea of judgment is, “Well, nobody’s perfect,” which presumably means something like, “Since nobody’s perfect, then we are all being judged on a relative scale and on a curve and my performance is relatively as good as anyone else’s, so I will be okay at the judgment. God will understand that I am only human and so He won’t mind my little sins. God grades on a curve.” And it is remarkable how all my sins are “little sins.” Other people are murderers and drug addicts and child molesters, but all my sins are little.

There are, however, at least two fatal flaws in the line of thinking given above. First, at the Judgment when we stand before the throne of God and give an account for our lives, we will not be judged on a relative scale. We will, instead, be judged on an absolute scale where the acceptable standard is sinless moral perfection for our entire life from birth to death. The existence of a single sin will result in eternal condemnation. The God of the Bible is perfectly holy and as such has a holy hatred of all sin. He punishes and condemns all sin. So it is a fatal flaw in my thinking to believe that the one true and living God will judge me on a relative scale. Sinless perfection is the only acceptable performance.

But the person may then object and say, “That’s not fair. No one is perfect and so it is not fair to judge me by an impossible standard that no one has ever achieved.” This reveals the second fatal flaw, for, in fact, there is one who has perfectly fulfilled the Law of God in its utmost requirements. There is one who has lived His entire life without ever committing one sin in thought, word or deed. There is someone who is perfect. There is a Man who has lived on this earth, who was born under the Law (Galatians 4:4) and who perfectly fulfilled the Law. No longer can it be said that the Law is impossible to obey in its fullness, for Jesus Christ the righteous one never sinned. (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; John 8:46) Thus Jesus Christ has “busted the curve.” Jesus Christ has set the standard of moral performance.

So when anyone speaks of relative moral performance and says that “at least I am not as bad as _____,” they must be made aware of the fact that they are not being compared with the moral performance of another fallen human being. Rather, the moral standard for every human being who will ever live is the moral performance of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the expected performance and it is His perfect moral obedience that will be the standard by which you will be judged. So if you are going to make it to heaven on the basis of your own moral performance, you need to be aware of what you need to achieve.

Jesus is the standard of moral performance.

If you have followed me so far, the next question must be, “If Jesus is the standard of moral performance, and I realize I fall hopelessly short of that standard, how can I ever escape the judgment of God? How can I not be consumed by the wrath of God at the judgment when I am sinful and have broken God’s Law?” That is the beauty of the gospel, for through faith in Jesus Christ you can be forgiven of your sins and can actually be viewed by God as being as righteous as Christ. For those who will put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, His righteousness is imputed to their account and their sin is imputed to Christ’s account and is nailed to the cross. “God made Him who knew no sin (Christ) to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:20).”

How does your moral performance compare to the sinlessness of Christ? What will happen to you at the judgment? Can I urge you to flee to Christ and call upon Him to cover you with His righteousness?
3/30/2015 RMB

What is the best revealer of sin? The best revealer of sin is the Law of God. In fact, God has given us His Law of commandments and ordinances to allow us to see our own sin. “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. For by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:19-20).” Our conscience can help us be aware of some of our sin, but it is the written Law that is the best instrument for revealing to us our inability to keep God’s commands and it is our failure to keep the Law that condemns us. So the Law is the best instrument for bringing to your awareness the presence of and the extent of your sin. Thus the Law is a gift from God that can bring to our conscious awareness our sin and our need for a Savior. “It is the kindness of God” as manifested in His giving us the Law “that leads you to repentance (Romans 2:4).”

And what is the best revealer of selfishness and “relational sins” like anger, impatience, judgmentalism, lack of grace and lack of forgiveness, pride, jealousy and so on? In my opinion the best revealer of my selfishness is the gift of marriage. I would say that in my life (and maybe in yours), it is God’s gift of a wife that has revealed to me my deep and wide selfishness and my abundant relational sins, like those listed above. It is only through the relationship to my wife that I have the necessary context to see all my flaws and sins. And this is God’s gift to me to help me in my sanctification and to help me overcome these sins.

As the Law is the God-given instrument for revealing the presence of my sin and the extent of my sin in my life, so marriage is the God-given context for revealing to me my selfishness and my relational sins. If I allow the Law to expose my sin and I then repent of my sin and believe in Jesus, I will be forgiven and will be saved. If I allow marriage to expose my selfishness and I then confess that to God and ask Him to give me the grace to love my wife more than myself, I will have the joy and delight of experiencing the deepest of human relationships.

Today I went out to lunch with several of the guys from work because today was Larry’s last day and we wanted to take him out to lunch. As we were driving in the car to the restaurant and I was listening to the other guys, the conversation was not as vulgar as it could have been, but it was pretty salty, as conversation among unsaved men tends to be. I was watching my tongue, but I was not being as careful as I should have been and I may have said something that a follower of Jesus should not say. I am fairly sure that no one else noticed anything at all, but it suddenly occurred to me that I am an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ wherever I am. Sitting in a car going to lunch is no different than sitting in church singing a hymn; I am a follower of the Lord Jesus and therefore have been appointed as His ambassador, and where I go, Jesus goes, and whatever I say and do, I say and do as a representative and ambassador for the Lord Jesus.

“Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20
(Other verses to challenge the believer in this regard: Matthew 5:13-16; Ephesians 5:27 “that he might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless”; Acts 1:8 “you shall be My witnesses”)

Here is the challenge for us as believers: After our conversion, we are ALWAYS ambassadors for Christ, wherever we are and with whomever we are, and we are therefore always to act like representatives for the Lord Jesus. There is no vacation and there is no day off. We are always accountable to represent our King to others. “We are His workmanship (Eph. 2:10).” We are the trophies in His trophy case and we are always to be living and speaking and behaving as befits one who has been redeemed by the Savior.

So when I am traveling to lunch with my co-workers, I am to let my light shine as a follower of Jesus and to let these others know that there is a difference between the redeemed and the lost. For we are members of a different Kingdom and we serve a different King. We are to walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6), so that we can adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect (Titus 2:10).

Since, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, we must live lives that are holy and blameless and undefiled, because the ambassador is the representative of the King in a foreign land and is therefore to show the foreigners the nature of the kingdom of his King.

The ambassador is conscious of the fact that he has been chosen by his King and also has been sent out by the King. So the ambassador must ask himself or herself, “What is my role as an ambassador to my King?” Since the ambassador serves the King, it is the King that gives the ambassador his assignment. And what is that assignment? The ambassador is sent out to represent the King and to carry out the business of the King. The ambassador is focused on the fame and prominence of his King. So we as ambassadors are aware that our King must increase and we must decrease (John 3:30). So we are sent out to tell of the glory of King Jesus and to tell of His deity, that He has always been and will always be.

But from the context of 2 Corinthians 5:20, the most important task that we have as ambassadors is to broadcast the Message of the King. We as ambassadors are to proclaim the message of reconciliation, a message that says that because of the sinless life of King Jesus and because of His sacrificial death on the cross and His glorious resurrection, sinners who are currently in the kingdom of darkness and who are currently enemies of the King can become citizens of His kingdom and can be adopted as sons of the living God. This message of reconciliation declares that those who are enemies of the King and who are under His wrath can have peace with the King and can themselves be made ambassadors of the King to carry the message to others. This is what it means to be an ambassador of the Lord Jesus.

SUMMARY AND APPLICATIONS:
Brothers and sisters, you and I are ambassadors for Christ, and we are always in the role of ambassador. Therefore we are always to be conscious of our role and we are to be intent on the accomplishment of our task as ambassadors and aware that we are always representing our King and are a reflection, good or bad, of our King and His Kingdom.

Here, then, are some questions to challenge us as ambassadors: (How am I doing as an ambassador for Christ?)

Do others know that you are a follower of Jesus and are a citizen of His kingdom? I am not asking if they SUSPECT you MIGHT BE a follower of Jesus. I am asking if you as an ambassador of the Kingdom have made your citizenship plain.
Based on YOUR behavior as an ambassador, do other people realize that there is a difference between those that follow Jesus and those who do not?
Do you live in a way that fits the citizens of heaven, in a way that is actively holy?
How often do you tell those outside Christ’s kingdom about your King?
Do you tell others how they can become citizens of Christ’s kingdom and how they can become beloved subjects of the King of all kings?
Do you tell people how they can be reconciled to God through King Jesus?

As ambassadors we each need to display the glory of the King by showing how He changes lives and declaring that He is able to reconcile the vilest enemy with a holy God. RMB 3/26/2015 #80