Why does God allow majority of believers to continue to
live on earth long after their salvation? Why does He not take us home as
soon as we escape the clutches of devil, sin, and the world through
salvation in Christ? The believer would definitely live a safer, more
glorious life in the presence of the Lord than in the world with its
ever-intensifying assault from the devil and his cohorts.
According to the scriptures, Heaven rejoices when a
sinner returns to God through faith in Christ, and the Lord values the death
of a righteous man. If the believer’s return to the Lord means so much to
Him, why does He lengthen our sojourn in the world?
Without doubt, our Master Planner, the Lord of all
wisdom, has designed for each believer a post salvation mission on earth. He
has revealed in the Bible His ultimate desire and purpose for this earthly
phase of our eternal life that began at the point of faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. By focusing on our post salvation mission in the universe, we as
believers will live more spiritually fruitful and effective Christian lives.
As believers, we are already complete in Christ
through His own fullness and payment for our sin on the cross. Consequently,
God sees us through Christ as sheep without blemish. However, the Lord
desires for us to experience and manifest to the world our oneness with
Christ. It appears the Lord wants to show through the faithful believer His
ability to sustain His own through the spiritual and physical turmoil that
characterizes human life on earth. Despite all the troubles, believers in
Christ can live on earth without compromising their faith and commitment.
Prior to His ascension, Christ charged his disciples
to evangelize the whole world, and He promised to empower them carry out the
responsibility of taking his place and representing him. He also promised to
send the Holy Spirit who would further strengthen them to perform the task
of evangelizing all nations. God similarly empowered us through the same
Holy Spirit, and has promised us His abiding presence and power supply. With
such divine backup, we cannot but hold the forte until Christ returns,
especially since we know He will require us to account for our stewardship
The paradox of living in the world but not belonging
to the world could task us a great deal. Our double status on earth could
sometimes confuse and disorient us from our mission. Yet we must not lose
sight of our primary citizenship. We belong to God’s holy nation. As
ambassadors for Christ we have the mandate to carry on our Lord’s ministry
of reconciliation.
“All this is from God, who reconciled to Himself and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world
to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has
committed to us the ministry 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. (2 Cor. 5: 18)
To succeed in his mission, an ambassador needs to be
consumed by patriotism for his home country; otherwise he might sabotage his
home government under inexorable foreign pressure. An ambassador should
possess a thorough knowledge of his native land. He must commit unswervingly
to the policies of his home government, so as to speak authoritatively and
passionately about those policies. Suffice it to say that an ambassador
embodies everything his home government and people stand for. An ambassador
bears the image and power of the country he represents. To vacillate on the
policies, or to misrepresent his people is to ask for a reassignment or
recall. For instance, an ambassador of the United States of America stands
for the American ideal; therefore, he swears to uphold the democratic and
free enterprise tenets of the United States. To advocate contrary ideals
will amount to denying his original identity. Such sedition will signal the
end of his assignment in the foreign country. The seriousness of the exalted
responsibility of a civil ambassador parallels the seriousness of our
positions and responsibility as representatives of Christ on a foreign
mission
Although he lives in a foreign country, the
ambassador receives orders from his home, and although he co-habits with the
local people, he lives with the enduring consciousness of his country of
origin. He does not co-mingle with the local people to the point of
compromising the ideals of his assignment. Similarly, Christians live in the
world to purvey the ideals of Christ, and strive to protect the interest and
kingdom of the Lord. Our interaction should never becloud our vision of our
mission; neither should we act like nor resemble the world.
Like Christ and as light, we should brighten the
corner and the path for those who habitually live in darkness. The darker
the surrounding, the brighter we should shine, and the more unbelievers will
want to know about what makes us tick. The closer we draw to God through
communicating with Him in prayer and bible study, the more we conform to the
image of Christ, and the more accurately we can portray Him to the world.
People with light, walk straight and confidently in a clear direction. They
have nothing to hide. They not only brighten their own path, but they also
brighten the path for passersby. The Christian should walk straight and
transparently.
As salt, we should season and preserve our society
from decay and ultimate destruction. Rather than turn political and social
criticism into a vocation, we should pray for all those in authority in
obedience to God’s mandate. We should not only decry evil and moral filth in
society, but we should also model Christ’s purity and righteousness as an
alternative to the prevailing degeneracy. We can confidently and effectively
press for social change and moral if we stand blameless.
The
decaying social fabric needs honest Christians, people of integrity, who,
conscious of their primary allegiance to the God of Heaven, to please God,
first and foremost, and to love and help others. The world needs people who
tell the truth when everyone else lies, people of ideals and commitment who
stand by their policy, not those who vacillate with every temporal exigency.
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