Nougat 21

Some time ago we reflected on our role as ambassadors of Christ. Whether we see ourselves in that role or not, Today’s Holy Nougat invites us to think about who we represent.

“Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.” ‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Whose Glory?

For the most part, we all seek to make our name, establishing ourselves in our fields of interest. This may be our hobbies, vocations or our passion; but whichever it is, we often imagine ourselves as successful in our endeavors. When this is matched with God’s purpose for our lives we are sometimes startled at what this looks like.

Whether we are already established and successful, we will hopefully have recognized that who we are (becoming) is by the grace of Christ Jesus. That is important. And equality important is the need to represent the One Who facilitates our becoming established.

Society sells the concept of the self made man. This premise suggests that success is an individual effort. Jesus tells us otherwise, as does the African tradition of Ubuntu. It is often used in its most literal sense, but Ubuntu can be understood as suggesting that our successes (and by extension, our failures) are the result of the collective.

For Jesus, this involves acknowledging God’s role in our life’s work. That is Honoring the One Who facilitated our success and is the essence of Truth-telling. Not only was He teaching us the secret to success, but He was also refuting the arguments against Him and His ministry. It is thus a reminder that naysayers will be a reality in our lives. If they harassed Jesus, we know they’ll harass us also.

Telling the truth also requires that we are conscious of the Truth. Can we sense God’s presence or support in our successes? We might be among those who already say reflexively I’m well by God’s grace, but do we mean it? You see friends, our attitude of gratitude affects our success.

Acknowledging God’s partnership is a much about being truthful, as it is about guaranteeing further success. While we honor God, we’re also branding our success. God is not about seeing us up to fail; whatever God does is absolutely well done. And crediting God means that we’ve allowed ourselves to yield to God’s Spirit and Wisdom, which usually means direct success. And, crediting God also invites others to explore having God as their (not so silent) Silent Partner also.

As we seek to be good ambassadors, let’s ensure that we represent God positively wherever we are.

—

May all we seek be found in Christ