The Honor of an Ambassador

Lately, God has really been working in me and teaching me that no matter where I am or what I am doing, people see and they respond by how I act. 

Let me share an example. 

Everybody has bad days or days they just don't feel like talking to anyone, right? Well, I can say that I have and on those days, I can also feel obligated not to make that big of an effort to make the people around me happy. Pretty selfish wouldn't you say?

On those days when I felt sick, unhappy or discontent about something, I would use that as an excuse not to be, let's say, "very obliging" towards others. 

"But what does this behavior say about my Christian faith?" I would later ask myself.

Again, I would hear the voice from the "one who lies" saying, "Oh, come on. You don't have to put others first all the time! When you're feeling down, everyone should caterer you."

Words from the one that comes to steal, kill, and destroy

That is also the way that many self-centered people here on earth would handle the situation but in Romans 12:2, Paul says that when we are born again in Christ, we are not to conform to the ways of this world, ". . . but be transformed by the renewal of [our] mind[s]." 

Of course, this very simple principle can be so hard to achieve . . . why? Because we're human, and it's our nature to want to be put first. That is why we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross EVERY DAY (Luke 9:23).

Reading in the Bible about Jesus and how, though perfect and capable of anything, always choose to put others first, is remarkable and humbling. No matter where He was, He always represented Himself as an ambassador of His Father.

Ambassador: a person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity

Also, a person who makes sure that relations are good between two "parties". 

I, therefore am also an ambassador of God. Used to do His will and to represent His character to others. How can I do this though, when my thoughts are all about me? I can't. I need to retrain my focus to put others first, always, and my needs/desires will be meet through God's promises. 

I am not saying, that Christians should try and represent themselves as perfect and that they should never display weaknesses, but being real and down to earth is different then having the attitude of "woe me."

To be real with you, I am definitely still working on this. I catch myself sometimes wanting to have that "woe me" mindset, but I'm finding that when I replace that mindset with thoughts about putting others first and focusing on their needs, my train-of-thought shifts and I feel more uplifted than I did when I tried to get people to feel sorry for me.

The "world" does not yet truly know our Heavenly Father, and how will they if we act the same as everyone else? This next week, even if you are having a bad day, try to do something nice for someone else around you (it could even be for one of your parents). I am going to do the same and we can all grow in this area together!

I would absolutely love to hear from you about how you deal with putting others first when you don't feel like it, or ways that you are putting others first! Please leave me a comment below!


Thank you so much for reading today's post and have a great rest of your weekend!