As God's children in Christ, we are made as His ambassadors, a people who would bring Christ to people around the world.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 tells us thus,
"Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God."
By this we understand that God expects us to live and act in such a way that the people we know will know God through us; that they'd understand who Christ is and what He did; and that they'd repent of their sin, come to Christ, and be reconciled to the Father -- through our efforts.
There are, however, some things that can hinder us from doing that. We must do our best to deal with or do away with these things so that we can be effective ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Three things that can hinder us from being an effective ambassador for Christ
1) The flesh
The flesh always hinders us from bringing the Gospel to others.
We must understand that the work of bringing the Gospel to all men is a work that should be done in the Spirit. Salvation, being born again, and being in a relationship with God can only be done by the Spirit. Jesus Himself said,
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6)
Knowing that, we must learn to put to death the lusts of the flesh.
"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." (Galatians 5:16-17)
2) Laziness
Did you know that laziness is a bane to being ambassadors for Christ? The Lord Jesus likens the world to a harvest field, where His followers joyously harvest people for God's Kingdom:
"Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."" (Matthew 9:37-38)
Since evangelism, or the act of bringing Christ to people so that they would repent and turn to Him for salvation, is harvesting, we can't afford to be lazy. Proverbs 10:5 warns us,
"He who gathers in summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame."
3) Sin
Sin can and will always hinder us from effectively witnessing to people about the Lord Jesus Christ.
While it's a fact that we're only human and aren't perfect and sinless, it's also a fact that when we sin we destroy our testimony, the very testimony we have that we use to bring people to Christ.
Remember Moses' story in Exodus 2:11-15, how he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew? The following day, he tried to stop two Hebrew men from fighting, but was met with a slap in the face:
"Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" (see Exodus 2:14)
This is what I mean, friends. When we commit sin, we destroy our testimony. Whatever kind of sin we commit, it will tarnish our name, and with that our very testimony.
The world is watching us even if we don't know it. Our very lives will speak about who Christ is to us. We should be very careful how we live in the sight of God and men.
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)
