A minister is an ambassador of the Kingdom of God to the kingdom of this
world’s life. If he will remember that, and act accordingly, it will
both save him from many mistakes and help him to many successes.
An ambassador has just one business. It is to represent, without wavering,
change, or compromise, the interests of his country at a foreign court.
If he allows himself to become more loyal to the people to whom he goes
than to the Ruler who sends him, he is worse than a poor ambassador; he
is a traitor. The pitiful message of the story of The Golden Calf is that
a spiritual leader forgot that his business was to serve God, and
surrendered to the idea that it was to please the public.
The ambassador must remember that he is at a foreign court. That means
that he cannot engage indiscriminately in what others do, that he must
not become too deeply rooted in the alien life. He must keep his
affections and loyalties fixed where they belong. At the same time, since
he is among strangers, and since he is his own country incarnated in
flesh and blood before them, he must be courteous and seek to make his
every word and act worthy of their respect.
An ambassador is often called a diplomat. Indeed, a poor diplomat could
not be a good ambassador. Frequently he has exacting and sometimes he has
strained situations to handle. He must do so in the least offensive way
and, at the same time, in the way best calculated to carry the point for
his King.
For, above all, an ambassador must be faithful to his own country. He must
not involve it, nor compromise it, nor surrender its interests in any way.
While he must properly respect the country and people to which he is
accredited, his business is to cooperate in establishing and maintaining
the supremacy of his own government.
It is a wonderful thing to be a minister, because a minister is an
ambassador of the Kingdom of God.