To put it in a short thought—we come together to explore what it means to live a God-centered life. We seek to behold God’s glory and holiness, His eternal and unchanging nature. And we desire to learn to grasp the fact that our God is love.As part of that commitment to God we learn how to protect His name. If our lives are supposed to be all about God, then we will do our best not to bring shame on God’s name and good reputation.Proverbs 22:1 says: A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold. If that’s true of a good personal, family name, then how much more true should that be about our heavenly Father’s family name?The third command of God (Exodus 20:7) calls us to elevate the name and the reputation of God to the highest place, not only in what we say, but in how we live. So our goal should be to give honor to God’s name.Now many people only get a glimpse of God when they see how we live and what we say. If we are not living as Christ want us to live, living a negative and unloving life, then the picture that others see is just that—it reflects on what they may think of our Heavenly Father. But if we live a positive, loving life, trying to become like Christ—then their impression of God is favorable. So we bring shame on our “family name” or we bring praise to our Father.This is part of what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote: “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). The purpose of an ambassador is to represent their nation and government. An ambassador does not do whatever he or she wants to do or say, that is, follow his own agenda. They seek to do the will of their president or king. So we as “ambassadors” seek to do the will of our Heavenly Father. So the position of ambassador is very important.The ambassador seeks to bring honor to the name of his country and king. So we must bring honor to our Father’s name.Our world is watching our Christian conduct and is making judgments about our God, our God’s ways, and our God’s family. Our words and actions cause people to think ...
