Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
People of God: Ambassadors of Christ
Joann Johnson
St. John’s MTC, NY
18 “Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your
face shine upon us, that we may be saved.”
Do
you ever feel like you need God to restore your life at times? If you do, know
that you’re not alone. We may have this need of restoration because something
has been missing in our lives. There are moments where we feel that our life is
complete but it can be quickly overshadowed by the thought that we have a
greater purpose that has yet to be accomplished. When we feel that something is
missing or diminished in our life, it triggers different thoughts in our minds.
We begin to feel restless, lost and helpless and try to come up with solutions
to get rid of this feeling.
As I was
reading the Bible passage, the verse mentioned above, “Restore us, O Lord God
Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved” stood out to me
the most. Why? Well, for one thing, it’s mentioned not once, but three times.
The psalmist is praying to God for restoration when they were invaded by their
enemies. But what does it mean to be restored by God? The dictionary definition
for the word restore is “to bring back to or put back into a former or original
state” but God doesn’t just bring us back to our original state; He wants to
make us better than we were before. That’s how God wants us to be. Our God
gives us the free will to make choices each day. We can choose to complain
about a difficult situation and still remain in the same condition or we can
choose to praise God despite our circumstances and try to better ourselves
spiritually.
When we
make the decision to invite Jesus into our life, we begin to feel God working
on restoring us. When God restores us, we have a more meaningful relationship
with Him. The feeling of being restless and lost is suddenly replaced by peace,
joy and love from our Lord. When we experience this change, we should be able
to share this with others, so that they too, can experience God in their lives.
When we share our
testimonies and the love God has for us to others, we become ambassadors of
Christ. As ambassadors of Christ, we are all called to be servants living under
the authority of Jesus, to be able to do His will. God restores us so that we
may go out and spread His word to others so that they may be restored as well.
Being an ambassador for Christ is a great position that God gives us, even
though the world may not perceive it to be that way. Actions speak louder than
words; people won’t listen to us unless we are able to practice what we preach,
with the way we live in our lives.
PRAYER
Lord, thank You so
much for being a loving and forgiving God, a God who not only restores us but
helps us to realize and accomplish the greater purpose we have in this world.
Help us to be Your ambassadors and share Your message to others, so that they too
can be restored. Father, we ask this in Your Holy name. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
“When the Christian faith becomes defined by who we are
and what we do and not by who Christ is and what he did for us, we miss the
gospel - and we, ironically, become more disobedient.” - Tullian
Tchividjian