Speaking for Him

Devotion for the Week...

Paul, Aiden, Zachary and I have been watching the show "The West Wing" over the past few months. We've made it to season 5, of 8, so far. Paul and I have watched it before, but it's fun to watch it again now with the boys, especially when we know something is about to happen and we get to watch their reactions.

In the show, CJ Cregg is the White House press secretary, so she does the press briefings. There are frequently scenes of her being asked questions by the other staff members, so they can hear how she'll present issues to the press when they ask their questions. It gives her a chance to refine the words she'll use to be sure that what she says reflects the President's agenda. She is, after all, speaking for him.

In one episode Leo, the chief of staff, tells her she has to issue a retraction of something she said during a briefing, and she has to do it in her own name. "They'll think I wasn't speaking for the President" she objected.

"You weren't," he replied.

That's what came to my mind recently when I read, "We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!'" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Isn't it an amazing thought that we speak for Him? It's quite the responsibility, too. Speaking for Him means we need to be sure that what we're saying aligns with His agenda.

His agenda is pretty simple. Peter wrote, "He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent" (2 Peter 3:9). That fits perfectly with what John wrote, too. "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:16, 17).

We have to ask ourselves, then, do our words support that agenda? Does our message encourage people to repent and come back to God? Or do our words sometimes send the message that God is more interested in judgement and condemnation? While there will certainly be judgement for sin, that isn't God's focus. Remember, "He doesn't want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." His focus is on encouraging people to repentance and redemption, not on judgement and condemnation.

Whenever we're tempted to pour scorn on someone for their choices, we should remember that God's message is one of redemption, not of condemnation. That doesn't mean we ignore or excuse sin, but it does mean we put emphasis on the possibility of repentance rather than on shaming the individual.

Background quilt is Intersections

How would remembering that we speak for Him change our message? I know I would rather hear "Well done, my good and faithful servant, " (Matthew 25:21) instead of being told I need to issue a retraction for all the times I was speaking for myself rather than for Him.