Words of Hope Daily Devotional
Ambassadors of Heaven
Read: Philippians 3:12-21
Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior. (v. 20)
I recently read an interview with a retired US ambassador. As an ambassador, he described himself as the personal representative of the US president. He added, “An embassy is a miniature version of the federal government in a foreign country.” Ambassadors live with this tension: they invest in people and places that are not their own; and they do so in the service of their true home.
Paul describes followers of Jesus as “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). In Philippians 3, Paul adds that all Christians are citizens of heaven (v. 20). We live on earth. We have family, friends, and neighbors who identify primarily as citizens of this world, but we are called to love and serve people who do not yet know our King. And we do so as citizens representing the interests of heaven.
It’s easy to forget where we belong and whom we represent. This is why Paul regularly contrasts the ways of this world and the ways of heaven. The Christian life is lived at the intersection of heaven and earth—immersed in the language and culture of this world so that we can influence it for heaven. Our lives and our homes and especially our gatherings as the church should be embassies in which unbelieving acquaintances experience the ways of heaven. Like Paul, we “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).
As you pray, ask Jesus to keep you connected to your true home.
About the Author
Ben Van Arragon
Ben Van Arragon is a preacher and writer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He preaches and teaches the Bible in church, online, and anywhere else he has the opportunity.
The Man Who Betrayed Him
Read: Matthew 26:20-25 Is it I, Lord? (v. 22) Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion sets Matthew’s text of the passion story to dramatic music. When the soloist singing Jesus’s words announces to the disciples that one of them will
The Crowd That Acclaimed Him
Read: Matthew 21:1-11 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (v. 9) Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Notice three things about this familiar story. First, it was a deliberate
The Heart of the Gospel
Read: Isaiah 53:5-8 The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (v. 6) What is the central message of the Christian faith? The apostle Paul summarized his preaching and teaching ministry as “the word of the cross”
What’s Wrong?
Read: Luke 15:1-7 All we like sheep have gone astray. (v. 6) The prayer of confession for the morning service in the Book of Common Prayer teaches us to pray like this: “Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred
The Suffering Savior
Read: Isaiah 53:4-5 With his wounds we are healed. (v. 5) The Apostles’ Creed, the most ancient summary of Christian belief, describes the entire earthly life of Jesus between his birth and death with just one word: he suffered. When
Jesus Is Accursed!
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God. (Isa. 53:4) Imagine that you are part of a gathering for worship at a Jewish synagogue in a typical first-century Greek city—let’s say Corinth—in AD 50, give or