What does it mean to represent something or someone?
To represent means to act or speak officially for someone or something.
When I was young and living at home with my mother, she would always remind us that when we leave home, don’t forget, not to embarrass her. As a young girl, I didn’t quite know what that entailed. I just knew that I was not going to do anything that would make my mother angry enough to punish me. No way and no how!
My mother had a quiet spirit. She had this rule, you would receive two warnings before you received the physical punishment. The first warning came with a gentle reprimand. The second warning came with a very stern facial expression, with her eyes rolling at you. The third warning, “no reprimand”, just the outright, Lord have mercy, physical abuse, and at that time it was called an a#*whipping. In those days it was an outright beat-down. If you do something like that today, it would be considered child abuse, and with time to serve.
As children of God, we are always representing God. To act-out means that you have just embarrassed God. The enemy is always looking at what button they can push on us. Our faith, and our God like character, are always being tested. We will be attacked, talked about, and lied on, because we are targets and the enemy takes target practice, on us, daily. Does he hit the “bulleye” sometimes? Absolutely! We are God’s children and we are Satan’s targets. Satan knows our weaknesses and our strengths. He focuses on the weaknesses and keep putting his finger in that sensitive spot, over and over again. Aggravating us, annoying us, disabling us, and trying to hurt us. He knows our pasts, but not our future. So he reminds us of our past over and over again, trying to cripple us. Everyday, he reminds us of our weaknesses. He is constantly nagging us about our past, our mistakes, and our failures. He reminds us that our report card is full of N. F. I. (need for improvement) and tells us, that’s unacceptable to God.
We should always remember who we are in Christ. Yes, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We all have a past. A past full of, mistakes, shame, guilt, and failures. Yes, we do have a lot of N. F. I. (need for improvement), on our report card of life. The one thing that we need to remember, people are always watching and observing us, and so is God. They can’t wait for that flip-side to surface, that old sinful nature that is asleep and not dead. I wish I can say that it’s dead for me, but I am going to have to keep it, as the young people say, “one hundred”, because, Satan knows that one person, who can push that right button, that can set you off (you know who that person is), and that person can make that old-self, rise and come alive. Then, they will all be looking and saying, “See, I told you that they haven’t change; they are the same old person.” In that instance, we forgot who we were representing. People will always remember the bad things that we do, they somehow, never seem to remember the good things that we have done. I wonder, why is that?
God understands our dilemma, and that’s why He loves to remind us, that he loves us, and that He has already paid the price for whatever sins we commit, and mistakes we make. He also reminds us that we are always to represent Him. Paul tells us that we represent Jesus: “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1). We are no longer darkness, but are light in Jesus. We should walk as children of the light in this world. He has called us. He has chosen us. We are now saints, servants, stewards, and soldiers. We are now witnesses and workers of Christ. Through Jesus, we are victorious, and we have a glorious future. We are ambassadors for God’s Son, Jesus. Let’s not forget, that we represent God!
WHO ARE YOU REPRESENTING?