Recently, I did a post on striving to represent Jesus well in the world. But what do we do when we’ve failed to do that?
Christians are ambassadors for Christ. We’re a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. Peter tells us that unbelievers will even slander us for our good behavior in Christ (1 PE 3:16). Paul encouraged others to follow his example and imitate his life. All believers should so model Christ they could say this to their children or fellow Christians.
One of our friends, Trillia Newbell, asked this question after my last post. (Thanks Trillia!) She asked: What should we do when we don’t represent Christ well? And what do we do when we ask forgiveness of unbelievers and they refuse to grant that forgiveness?
What should we do when we fail to represent Christ well? When we lose our temper with an unbelieving co-worker or grumble or gossip around non-Christians or say something unkind to an unbelieving relative? What if we fail to represent Christ well to our spouse or children?
Don’t Miss
First of all, none of us will represent Jesus perfectly.
Believers are all works in progress. Though in one sense, the moment we are saved, we are sanctified or set apart for God completely. Yet in another sense, our sanctification is ongoing. We are becoming more and more like Christ every day as the Holy Spirit works in our lives. Someday we’ll be completely conformed to the likeness of Christ, but until that time, none of us will be perfect. We still battle what remains of our old fallen nature, though it’s no longer the dominant force in our lives and the Holy Spirit stirs and empowers us to obey God.
So though we now want and try to represent Christ perfectly, we will fail. Hopefully, as the years go by, we will represent Jesus better and better. We’ll be more and more cheerful, rejoice more and more despite our trials. We’ll be more and more patient. Five years from now, you will be more like Christ than you are today as you continue to walk with him. So if you’re around the same people for a few years, and you’ve failed to represent Jesus well early on, they should see changes occur in you over time. Jesus can even use our failures to show others his power to change us.
If you have failed to represent Jesus, here are a few suggestions.
Repent.
Peter denied Christ three times- talk about a failure to represent – but he repented. Judas failed to repent. He felt bad about what he’d done but never repented. John tells us that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 JN 1:9). The first thing we should do is ask Jesus’ forgiveness.
Remember, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
We may feel condemned, but there is none, because Jesus was condemned in our place on the cross. None remains for us. Not one shred.
