29 Aug Ambassador in chains
Once you experience the goodness of God, it’s kind of hard not to tell people about it. If you’re a believer, that’s why you may have the constant urge to witness. The problem comes with the fact that where there’s witness, there’s also warfare. The enemy doesn’t want you to spread the Gospel, so he’ll do anything he can to stop you. That’s what happened to Paul in Ephesians. He got thrown into prison for preaching God’s grace to people. But his response was incredible – one that we can all learn from.
In Ephesians 6:19-20, he wrote to his friends in the church of Ephesus, “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” First of all, I like the part of this verse that calls the Gospel a “mystery.” It’s something that many know a little bit about, but they don’t understand it fully. It’s like going to a Sherlock Holmes movie. If the movie ends and you don’t figure it out, you think, “I’m never going to one of those again. I’ll stick to Jungle Book next time.” Am I right?
That’s how people feel. And it’s our job to help them solve the mystery. The next part explains how.
Paul calls himself an “ambassador in chains.” He meant it literally, because he was chained to prison guards for a period of time as punishment. He decided not to pity himself for that punishment, but to recognize the purpose in it. He witnessed to them. The truth is, though not literally, we are all “chained” to people in our lives. Our family members, our co-workers, our hairdressers, our workout partners. There are people we are connected to that have been unable to solve the mystery of the Gospel. And like Paul, it’s our job to help them out.
Survey after survey has proven this fact: 90 percent of people who solve the mystery and give their life to Christ do so because of the influence of someone they are connected to. I know what you’re thinking. “I want to witness, but I’m not sure how. What if I make things worse?”
Let me help you out. The first thing to remember when witnessing is that we’re called to speak the truth in love. Because truth shows people what we stand for, and love shows them who we’re for. Them. Once you get that down, you’re on the right track. Then you’ve got to portray the four characteristics of a good ambassador the way Paul did. You should be confident, compassionate, purposefully connecting and passionately concerned about the needs of people.
When you do these things consistently, speaking the truth in love, you’ll be on the path to solving the mystery in people’s hearts.
So this week, strive to remember your role. You are an ambassador in chains!