A friend of mine approached me yesterday and said he needed to talk to me about something. We'll call him Mr. X. He said he been learning some things at his church which really had him thinking, really had him convicted about the difference in personality depending on where he was. In other words, he was one type of person at home, and another type at work. I think that's true for many of us.
Perhaps you are a person that is proud of who are at work, but ashamed of the way you treat your spouse at home. Or maybe it's the opposite: you're sweet and loving to your family, but you're an absolute pain to the people you work with.
Why is that? How can geography dictate our true colors? How can situations and circumstances seemingly have the power to change the very core of who we think we are?
As manager of my business, I have the privilege of interacting with a wide variety of people. People in different phases of their lives, people with a variety of life experiences, people with an array of different world views.
As worship leader at my church, I interact with a lot people and I'm always aware of the struggles we all face. I often remind the band that if we are not worship leaders 100% of the time, then our time "on stage" is of little value. God knows if there is a difference between who we are on Sunday morning and who we are in the wee hours of Friday or Saturday night. He deserves all or nothing, and His holiness requires the former.
Even if I wasn't the manager of a business, even if I was not involved "officially" in a ministry - I am still a Christian, and because of that label and that alone, I should be driven to live a life of consistency. Those who watch me should not see a night and day difference between who I am on the stage leading worship, interacting with my family, dealing with clients, and interacting with my co-workers. My hope is that those who are watching me cannot find any, or least not many :-), areas that would cause them to doubt my integrity.
The truth is that we all are being watched everyday. Especially for those of us who have chosen to wear the badge of Christ, we should be mindful that it can take us years to build up our credibility, to gain the trust of others who are watching us live a testimony every day. While it takes years to build up, it can take just one act of carelessness to completely destroy it. This doesn't just hurt us, but more importantly it could be the final "nail in the coffin" for someone who decides once and for all that Christians are no different than the rest of the world.
As Mr X reminded me, we are to be the salt of the earth. People should get a taste of us and want to be like us.
People do watch us. I believe they will say one of two things:
"He's a Christian? Wow, I want to be one!"
"He's a Christian? Wow, no thanks."
Through us, through our lives, people should be drawn to Christ, not driven away from Him.
Let's point as many people as we can to Christ!
Over and out....
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