In the first few days of being a new mom, I was so enraptured with my child that I barely slept wanting to stare at her all the time. Well, that and the fact that she literally ate every two hours, and I'm her...for the sake of propriety, let's just call me her vending machine. After several nights in the hospital I had never once slept more than an hour at a time between waking up to feed her and being awakened by the well-intentioned, albeit it slumber-inhibiting medical staff who were doing a great job of making sure both she and I were in good health. Needless to say, on our first night home I was looking forward to some uninterrupted sleep of at least an hour and forty-five minutes or so. My sweet husband took our newborn just after one of her late night feedings and instructed me to sleep until the next time she needed to eat, and I did. I slept like the dead (people with babies stop saying "sleep like a baby" because we know they don't really sleep). I slept so hard that when he came to wake me, I had no idea when or where I was. I didn't remember what had happened or what was supposed to happen. I was laying in the bed, incredibly groggy, staring at my husband wondering what he was holding in his arms. Oddly enough, the first thought in my extremely exhausted brain was alien. You may be asking, "how funny looking is that kid?" In fact, she is quite beautiful and has at no point looked like an alien. I was just that out of it. However, this week I was reminded that my child is indeed an alien. Not in looks, because seriously she really is a pretty baby, but she is an alien citizen to me and her father. Well, technically we are alien citizens to her.
This past Wednesday night at my church we looked at the verse 2 Corinthians 5:20,
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.
As it always happens when I revisit a familiar verse, God used my present day circumstances to uncover another layer hidden in His word. I have been aware for years that I'm no longer a citizen of this world as Jesus explained it in John 15:19,
If you belonged to the world, it would love you like one of its own. But you do not belong to the world. I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
My new revelation was not my role as ambassador to those in the world who are still lost, lacking the peace and blessing that comes from being in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. What is new is that I have been stationed in a new post, as ambassador to my daughter. She is a citizen of this world, subject to sin and not yet in a relationship with God. Sure, right now, she is a precious little baby and the picture of innocence, but she is also completely self-involved wanting her needs and demands to be met the moment she experiences them. The cry for food is just a precursor to the selfishness that will manifest in all kinds of ways as she grows. The toys she won't want to share with anyone, the really bad two-year old lies she'll tell when trying to cover up her disobedience, the tantrum she'll throw when she does not get her way. Her first language will be the language of a sinner, "mine"-ese.
I have been given the greatest assignment of my life as an ambassador and that is to represent the kingdom of Heaven to my child. My husband and I are to be her bridge to Christ, and while we are counting on family, friends, and the church to help us lay out the path, the ultimate responsibility for sharing Christ with her is on us. As parents, we must embrace our roles as ambassadors to our children. We must be committed 24/7 to living in this foreign world with them, but representing the kingdom we truly belong to in our words and actions. I have worked with enough teenagers in student ministry to know that kids see very clearly what their parents do, especially that which is in opposition to what they say. All of us parents must be careful that we truly live in a way that reflects Christ each and every day, so our children see that we don't just say we have faith, but we practice our faith in every aspect of our lives. Those of you who are not yet parents are still ambassadors. Your post may be your job, your dorm, or your neighborhood, but you still have the vital responsibility of representing Christ to those around you who don't yet know Him in all that you do. Not only are you a working ambassador right now, but you are also training for tougher assignments in the future. Be the best alien you can be! Show grace to those around you; respond differently to tough situations; love others, even those who are harder to love. As we do these things, those who are alien to us will observe and learn and be drawn to Christ just as we once were.
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