Have you ever considered your service to the Lord to be an incarnation?  Perhaps you have never used this specific word but you may have heard these words from the Apostle Paul:  “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

As the “righteousness of God” we invade our world, setting right the consequences of the Eden’s curse.  We do not have the power to make others righteous, but we can be the physical embodiment of the One who can: even the body of Christ.  God reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and then uses us to make His appeal to others.  We call it “outreach.”  God calls it a “ministry of reconciliation.”  There is nothing wrong with the word “outreach”, but we must understand there is a difference between merely reaching out and living among.  It is possible to reach out and retreat, however once we live among the lost, it is difficult to turn back.

God is with us.  We have always been in His presence, but now we are His righteousness, and His presence goes with us.  Be incarnate.  Be His church of reconciliation.