You’re Hired! – January 24, 2024

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

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.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21

You’re Hired!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Have you ever heard of an ambassador? An ambassador is someone who is sent to speak for someone else. The words an ambassador uses are not his or her own words. The person who hires the ambassador chooses the words to say. When a company or a country hires an ambassador, they choose someone who likes the person he or she works for and is good at communicating what needs to be said.

God tells you in today’s reading that you are Christ’s ambassador. In other words, Jesus has “hired” you to speak his words. But the way God has done this is different from the way a company or country would hire an ambassador.

You see, Jesus doesn’t choose the people who are the best for the job. We are not always good at communicating what God wants people to know. We sometimes don’t even like the things God wants people to know.

We need to be reconciled. That is a big word! It means that our relationship with God was broken because of sin. We were enemies of God because of sin. But Jesus fixes our relationship with God. Our sins were counted against Jesus instead of against us. He reconciled us to God.

God now tells us that since we are reconciled, we are also ambassadors. We have to be! We get to be! We get to tell people that Jesus has fixed what was broken. He has hired you to tell people his words.

Are you the best person for the job? Are you good at communicating these words to others? God actually says that you are! Because you are reconciled to God by Jesus, he has made you the right person for the job. Even if you feel like someone else could do it better, God has chosen you.

Trust him. Just like you trust him to forgive your sins, trust that he has made you an ambassador who has to speak his words to others. He hired you to do this!

Closing Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for reconciling me to God. Help me to be your ambassador so that many more people can know and believe your words. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• A word in today’s devotion was ambassador. What’s an ambassador?
• God gives each of his children an important job of being an ambassador. What does God want you to do with the good news he shares with us in the Bible?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• Reconciliation means to restore peace to a relationship that was broken. How did our relationship with God get broken? Then explain how God solved that problem for us.
• A country chooses an ambassador to represent their home country’s interests in a foreign land. A company might hire an ambassador to promote its products. God calls you Christ’s ambassador. What do you envision yourself doing in your role?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• In your own words, define the message of reconciliation described in the reading. (It might help to read it again.) What comfort does that give you?
• Today’s reading said, “From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.” Explain what it means to think of others from a “worldly point of view.” The reading goes on to talk of a better view. What is it? And how does that affect how we view others?