In 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 Paul clearly points to the fact that what should compel us to say what the King would say and the way the King would say it is the love of Christ. It is the kindness of the Lord that leads people to repentance, Christ’s glorious, substitutionary love is the most compelling argument for change. In every setting and circumstance of life, we have been called to speak in a way that pictures the love of God. What a high and humble standard! We need to humbly admit that the methods the Lord uses are very different from those we would naturally select. It is not our natural first response to bless the person who mistreats us according to Romans 12:14. It is not our tendency to forgive the person who is confessing the same sin for the seventh time that day according to Luke 17:3-4. It is not my first choice to fight evil with good according to Romans 12:21. It is not natural for me to forsake revenge for peacemaking according to Romans 12:17-20. We find it difficult to be patient, gentle, humble, and persevering under provocation according to Ephesians 4:2. We would rather wait for the person who has offended us to come to us instead of going to them according to Matthew 18:15-17. We find it difficult to settle issues and restore relationships beforee the sun sets, we want to hang on to the offenses, and to replay the offense over and over again in our heads according to Ephesians 4:26-27. We want to move people by force of our anger, and their pain, rather than by patient, humble, forgiveness according to James 1:20. We get caught up in the heat of an argument, instead of stepping back and preparing ourselves to speak in a godly way according to Proverbs 15:28. God does not think as we think, He does not do what we would naturally do, which is why we need to understand and follow His method. As Ambassadors we are called to lay down the world’s ineffectiveness, even destructive, weapons and take up the gospel tools that the king has put in our hands. God will use those tools to bring radical heart change into our lives and allow us to share in that same work in the hearts of others.
