How much do we really care about what the world sees in God's people?
6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.
The world is hungry and thirsty for something, they look all around and try different avenues to find peace and a reason for life, it doesn't know what the answer is. As they try and figure out what is missing from their life and how they can get it most of them will consider the church as an option, that sounds like a good idea but the problem is that they have a lot of options and some of the options can look a lot better than God's people do.
Living with integrity is so important for the Christ follower, the world is watching us to see what we believe, they know that if we really believe the teachings of Jesus then we will live the way that he told us to live. They judge Jesus and decide if he is valuable for them by looking at the life of his people, the world judges religion and it's worth, not from preaching, or from books, but from what they see in the daily walk and conversation of the people that say that they believe. They understand enough about our religion that they can tell when we are not living it out.
Honesty and integrity are more important than your churches mission statement and your devout church attendance and strict observance of religious ceremonies, your daily prayer time and the amount of knowledge that you have of the Bible have no value unless you have an upright life.
I am an ambassador
2 Corinthians 5:20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!"If you are going to talk to somebody about the value of Christ in your life then you better represent him well. If you want to talk about Christ forgiveness then you better forgive the people that have wronged you. If you want to talk about the awesome love that God has for you then you better be loving like Jesus did.
With the modern conveniences that we have available, the size of the world has shrunk down and we can easily see people from around the world, the idea of an ambassador isn't as meaningful to us as it was in the past. When an ambassador went to a foreign country he was probably one of a few that those people had ever seen from that country and as their official representative he was expected to accurately depict what kind of people that they were back in his country and what they believed.
The world is looking at me to see what kind of kingdom Jesus has and what his people believe, I am the only Jesus that the world can put their eyes on, I need to be an ambassador that truly represents my Lord.
