Noticeably Different

This morning I had a 6am meeting in the office of our landscaping business. As I rolled groggily out of bed, I wondered yet again why we meet so early… Of course, I know why.

When I went over to the office a few minutes before our start time, I found the two people from our office staff who join the other family employees at our bi-weekly meeting.

The one was busily putting some reports together, giving me a cheery hi when I walked in the door and the other one was upstairs, I assume to take up the donuts he had kindly picked up on the way in to work and to make sure all was good with our conference room.

As I was sitting there alone for a few moments waiting for everyone to come upstairs to begin the meeting, I was thinking how grateful I am for our office staff. These two, along with our other two part-time staff, really make our jobs easier. They anticipate what we will need, they go out of their way to help us, they rarely complain, they all get along really well, and they respond kindly to requests. They just make owning a business so much easier.

Now, don’t get me wrong—life isn’t perfect in our office. People are people, after all. But all four of our office staff are genuine believers and you can definitely tell. We have so much to be thankful for.

So as I was thinking about how they help make our jobs so much easier, it hit me.

That’s what we are to be doing here on earth. We are to make God’s work easier. I don’t mean to sound flippant, so let me explain.

We are in the era of time where God is building His spiritual kingdom through calling people to salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

As those who are already saved, we know we are to share this Good News with others. We all know that we should tell others about this (although many of us struggle to do this).

But, I wonder if we think about this question:

Does the life I live make it easier or harder for people to respond to God’s call?

While I know there is nothing we could do to keep someone from heaven, I do wonder if we make it easier or harder for God? Of course, God will do what He is going to do, but we’ve all heard about those who reject Christ and use Christians and the examples they set as their reason. Are we someone’s excuse as to why they won’t come to Christ?

For example, if we are stingy, complaining, harsh, angry, lacking in self-control, anxious, fearful, what does that tell people about salvation? If we are living in sin; watching and listening to violent, sexually immoral tv shows and movies filled with bad language, what does that tell people about God and His impact upon our lives? If we hold grudges and refuse to forgive; if we gossip and slander; if we manipulate others to get our own way and, in doing all of these things, we call ourselves a “Christian”, what must people think??

There is much we can do to draw people to Jesus Christ and to make them take notice of the change He miraculously works in our lives. We are a brand new creature, after all, and this should show in our lives, through our daily choices and interactions with others (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Of all people, we should be the most loving and generous; we should be the most joyful and kind; we should never be characterized by anger or anxiety; We should be actively working to curb sin and worldliness in our lives; we should forgive as we have been forgiven, careful with our tongues, and think of others above ourselves.

None of us can do these things perfectly, of course. We all will stumble and struggle all too often. But we are ambassadors for Christ, now living for Him instead of ourselves. And this should stand out as noticeably different when compared to others in the world around us.

Whether this draws them to Christ or removes them further from Him, we cannot control (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). We know from scripture that most people will reject Christ. We just never want them to use us and our lives as their excuse!

May we stand as wonderful examples of new creations! May we be the reason someone asks questions about the Gospel. May we be a bright and shining light of love and truth in this very dark world.