An Active Agent
READ
An ambassador is a fascinating role. They live in foreign territory but represent their home country. They don't make policy, but they communicate it. They don't speak their own words, but their government's message. Their presence makes their nation present, even from a distance.
Paul uses this exact image to describe your identity: "We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us." Stop and let that sink in. You are heaven's representative on earth. You carry the message and ministry of reconciliation into a fractured, divided world. Through your words and your life, God Himself makes His appeal to those around you.
Let’s take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21:
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
REFLECT
The message you carry is stunning in its simplicity and power: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them." This is the gospel—God has made peace available. The barrier between humanity and God has been removed. The hostility has been ended. Reconciliation is possible.
But notice that this ministry of reconciliation doesn't stop with vertical peace between God and people. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." When you work to bring people together—with God and with each other—you're functioning as God's child, reflecting the family resemblance.
We live in an age of division. Political polarization has fractured families. Racial injustice has created deep wounds. Economic inequality breeds resentment. Social media amplifies outrage. Into this fragmented landscape, the Church is sent as ambassadors of reconciliation.
This means we actively work to bring people together. We cross divides that others won't cross. We build bridges when others are burning them. We pursue peace even when it's costly, uncomfortable, or unpopular. We refuse to let the hostilities of the world dictate the posture of our hearts.
Think about what this requires. It means listening to people you disagree with instead of dismissing them. It means advocating for justice for those who've been wronged while extending grace to those who've wronged them. It means refusing to demonize the "other side" while standing firm on kingdom values. It means absorbing anger without retaliating, absorbing pain without becoming bitter.
This is hard work. Peacemaking always is. It's much easier to pick a side and lob grenades at the opposition. It's simpler to surround yourself with people who think like you and ignore the rest. But ambassadors don't have that luxury. You're called to represent a different Kingdom, one where former enemies become family, where the dividing wall of hostility has been torn down, where love conquers hate.
Look around at your world. Where do you see division? In your church? Your family? Your workplace? Your community? Those fractures are your mission field. You're called not to widen them but to heal them. Not to win arguments but to win people. Not to prove you're right but to demonstrate there's a better way.
This doesn't mean compromising truth or avoiding difficult conversations. Jesus Himself confronted injustice and called out hypocrisy. But He did so as one who came "not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." His posture was always redemptive, always aimed at restoration, always hopeful that reconciliation was possible.
You carry that same ministry. You are Christ's ambassador. God is making His appeal through your life, your words, your choices, your relationships. The question is: what message are people receiving? Are they encountering the ministry of reconciliation, or something else entirely?
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
Where do you see the deepest divisions or brokenness in your spheres of influence—family, workplace, church, or community?
What would it look like for you to be an active agent of reconciliation in one of those spaces? What risks might that involve?
Is there someone you've written off or dismissed who God might be calling you to approach with a ministry of reconciliation?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Lord Jesus, You are the ultimate peacemaker, reconciling us to the Father through Your death on the cross. Thank You for entrusting me with this same ministry of reconciliation. Give me courage to cross divides that feel impossible, wisdom to know when to speak and when to listen, and love that never gives up on restoration. Make me an authentic ambassador of Your Kingdom. Amen.