nothing more precious than that.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.  So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5: 17- 21

When anything is entrusted to me, I get a little nervous.  Am I capable?  Can I take care of it?  Will I break it?  Will I ruin it? Will I lose it?  The word “entrusted” by itself causes me to be anxious.  Like something precious is being handed over to me – for whatever reason – and now I’m responsible for it. Now I get to hold on to it, whether I want it or not.

When I think about what has been entrusted to me, I can think of material things that have been handed over to me, either temporarily or for a lifetime to be passed down through the generations.  But I also think about people who have been entrusted to me. Together, Mark and I have been entrusted with our two children, Jason and Sarah, precious precious gifts from God.  And as the generations grow old, when I was once entrusted to my parents, my mother is now entrusted to me.  To hold, to love, to care for, by the grace of God.

In the text today, Paul talks about being entrusted in another way.  Instead of focusing on any thing or person that we are being entrusted with, God entrusts us with God’s self. God is entrusting us to bring God’s message of reconciliation into our lives, and into the world.  The message of the cross.  The message of love. The message that God sent God’s Son to reconcile us to God – to wipe away our sin – and make us a new creation!

There is nothing more precious than this.  And the thing is, I can’t break it or lose it or ruin it. But I also can’t hold on to it.  For it has been entrusted to me so that I might share this Good News – give it away –  so that the world might share in the reconciling of Christ.     Just as an ambassador is an official envoy, especially a highest ranking diplomat who represents a state, so are we called to be God’s official, highest ranking children of God, representing this God who has already reconciled us to God’s self – entrusted and called to bear this message of reconciliation for all the world. Yes, there’s nothing is more precious than that.