“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.”
2 Corinthians 5:20

If you were raised in church, you have probably heard it a thousand times: I’m a Christian farmer, banker, schoolteacher, singer, or add whatever profession you want to the end of it.  The implication here was supposed to be that as I go about my day, I take God with me. However, what it usually looked like was, “I am a whatever-title Christian.  Meaning that the title drove most of the day, and the Christian was the side thought.

I know for me, that can certainly be the case. I go about my day, and if something I can do for the Kingdom comes up, great.  I struggle sometimes with my priorities and looking for God every day. It says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  It is pretty clear here that we were created for relationship with God, but we were also created for good works.

What are Good Works?
This doesn’t mean that good works save us. We are only saved by the Holy Spirit and the unearned grace of God that changes who we are. However, if you are restored to God, then your mission is to do good works. So, what are good works?  A good work is anything that God directs you to do that shows others who He is. So what do good works look like?  It can be praying for a person, feeding someone, telling a person about Jesus.  It is pretty much any action that is motivated the Holy Spirit and shows some aspect of who God is.

Why are These Works so Important?
We live in a world that struggles to know who God is. We live in a world that says, “If I can’t see it, I don’t believe it.”  So when we are directed by the Holy Spirit to do something, we are showing the world in a physical and tangible way who He is. Christ was sent to the earth to be the example of the Father.  In John 12:44-45, “Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” Then Paul tells us to imitate him as he imitates Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).  So, we become the physical manifestation of who Christ is in the world.

So here is the challenge for you. Allow the Holy Spirit to direct your life every day. Be open to the good works that He places in your life that show the world who God is.

“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.  By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?  My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
1 John 3:15-18

– Written by Jeremiah

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