Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (NIV)
16 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. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 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. 20 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. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We are called to be ambassadors of Christ’s love in our daily lives. Paul says it is as if God “were making His appeal through us”. That happens every moment of every day. Whether at work, school, home, shopping, in the car, or wherever you go, God, is using us to share His love. But there are also people God calls to leave their homes and be ambassadors to people who have never heard about Jesus. Do you support a missionary? Do you know of any personally? Take some time to pray about how you could be involved in sharing the Gospel with those who have never heard all over the world. Research missionaries from our church or from different Lutheran organizations. Find out how you can pray or encourage the ministry of missionaries. Send them Thanksgiving cards or Christmas presents. But right now take some time to pray for God’s glory to be revealed to all people through us in our communities and around the world.