We Are Ambassadors, Not Survivalists

Ambassador! What’s that? “An official of highest rank sent to represent his government in a foreign country. Any person sent as a representative or messenger.” (Webster). A survivalist! A person with a very different mindset! The central idea is survival, continuing to exist. We’re all familiar with the new wave of Survivor television shows. Be the last one standing. Survive at any cost. Deceive, cheat, hide, bully, kill, sell your soul, do anything it costs. It’s okay as long as you survive. Now TV has gone a step farther and there are the Doomsday Preppers. They remind me of a good many Christians I know.

As blood-bought, born again believers in Jesus Christ, is that all we are? People just trying to hold out and survive till the end? Is getting saved, waiting for the rapture and holding out till we die all there is to being a Christian? Is Christianity nothing more than a ticket to heaven? Even a kindergarten Bible student knows better.

Yes! We’re in an increasingly hostile world. A large percentage of this world hates Christianity. They do not like Christians. Christianity runs counter to the survival of the fittest and rule by raw force. It’s for freedom and liberty of conscience and is an affront to dictators and totalitarian regimes. Christianity is for the sanctity of life and stands in the way of murder, whether it is citizens killing other citizens, mothers killing their unborn babies, the euthanizing of the infirmed or elderly or the way Adolph Hitler did it. Christianity is pro family and defines a legitimate marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman; and that puts Christians in harm’s way with homosexuals, advocates of same-sex marriages and polygamists. Christianity is about wholesome, moral living. Promiscuous people, thieves, drug abusers, bullies, adulterers and child abusers have a problem with that. Christianity is about truth and honesty, doing good rather than evil, giving and forgiveness, loyalty, patriotism and law-abiding lifestyles. Christianity offers hope (in this life and the world to come), but it says hope is only in one person, Jesus Christ. One must have a personal relationship with Christ and that relationship comes only by grace through faith in Him. All other religions are offended that Christians would claim to have the only way of salvation.

The world is ratcheting down on those who believe and practice true biblical Christianity. Yes! Right here in America! Discrimination seems to be the leading tool of choice. Failure to fall in line and accept all that is politically correct (especially homosexuality) is considered discrimination. Because they stand for Bible positions Christians are considered intolerant. In the eyes of a growing number of legal ways that intolerance cannot be tolerated. (Go figure out that stance.) Remember the photographers in New Mexico who politely declined to photograph a same-sex marriage because it contradicted their deeply held Christian convictions! The New Mexico Human Rights Commission fined them for violating the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Yes, anti-discrimination! The case went all the way to the New Mexico Supreme Court which decided that New Mexico’s anti-discrimination law “compels” people “to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives.” The court explained that this is simply “the price of citizenship.” In Missouri the National Parks Service recently required churches to obtain a special uses permit in order to baptize in public waters. After an uproar and intervention by an elected representative the Park’s Service backed off; however, similar efforts have been tried in other states. Have you noticed the anti-Christian wave in the U.S. Military, particularly the Air Force? Fox News reported that the Pentagon directed an Air Force Base to remove a video tribute to First Sergeants because it mentioned the word “God.” The Pentagon said the word might be offensive to atheists or Muslims. Todd Starnes reports that Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio was relieved of his duties after he disagreed with his openly gay commander when she wanted to severely punish an instructor who had expressed religious objections to homosexuality. His commander said his position is discriminatory. This case demonstrates the growing trend of government to punish those who refuse to openly agree with anti-biblical positions.

Do not imagine that you will be immune, that this trend will not ultimately reach you. It will: where you work, when you buy or sale your house, on your income tax return, through what you say to a friend or neighbor. When Hitler was doing his thing many fine Christian Germans thought it would never reach them. It did. Christian, the trend that is escalating in America will one day reach you. Especially if you are an Ambassador for Christ!

Yes! You can go into survival mode; many are already there. Maybe you can stay under the radar a little longer. Though the centuries, many who named the name of Christ have crumbled under pressure. Peter did it on that infamous night when the Savior was tormented and sentenced to die. Even a shallow dive into the pages of Christian history following the days of Christ will show you multitudes of Christian pretenders, those who spent their lives in survival mode. We are getting very close to a purge of Christian ranks. Already I am seeing more and more a survivalist mentality: Christians who are afraid to stand and speak up (except in their little circles). I don’t like controversy. I don’t want to get involved. I really don’t know what to say or do. It’s the blend in, stay under the radar, go with the flow, survivor mentality.

What a sad commentary on Christians! According to the Bible, we are ambassadors. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20). We are “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Peter 2:11) here on earth; our real citizenship is in heaven. “For our conversation is in heaven; for whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Awesome! God saved us from eternal damnation in the lake of fire, gave us heavenly citizenship and chose us to be His representatives here on earth for the duration of our lifetimes. What an honor and privilege! “Ye are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Don’t hide your light, your influence and testimony; maximize it! “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). This is no time for God’s people to be hiding in the stuff or in some closet. “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so” (Psalm 107:2). It’s time to stand up! Let the positions of our great God be heard and seen in our voices and lives! The apostle Paul said, “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:11). Jesus said, “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning . . . Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching” (Luke 12:35-37).