In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, he tells us: "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).
“Reconciliation” refers to the act of mending a broken relationship. God sends us as ambassadors into the world to tell people about how to reconcile their relationship with God. This calling represents the most important things we can devote ourselves to doing.
In 1980, a section of the famous Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay collapsed when a freighter struck a column. This sent several cars and a Greyhound bus into the water below, killing thirty five people.
A sixty year old man who was driving along the bridge as it collapsed. As he got to the crest of the bridge he saw that the bridge was out and managed to swerve and stop 14 inches from the edge.
When he and his companions got out of the car, they were running through oncoming traffic trying to stop people from driving straight into the bay.[i]
As followers of Christ, we’re like this man and his friends, warning people about the disaster awaiting them if they don’t reconcile themselves to God.
Now, can you imagine seeing this man waving his hands and screaming and ignoring his warnings? After all, you can’t see the section of the bridge, which collapsed ahead. You think he’s crazy. So you drive past him straight into the bay.
As serious followers of Christ, there will be times when our friends and family will view us as odd or even crazy for talking to people about Christ. But it doesn’t matter what people think. The Bible speaks truthfully about what Christ has done. It doesn’t matter that people look at us odd for devoting our lives to sharing the message of Christ if God has revealed what lies on the other side of life.
[i] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/05/10/greyhound-autos-drop-into-tampa-bay/5caa1bd8-faac-4dca-a839-0852f83e7383/?utm_term=.a4d1462b958b