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No really. In our everyday lives—are we making a difference?
Lately I have been feeling like what I've been doing with myself hasn't been making a big difference in eternity. This isn't exactly a new feeling; it is something that I have struggled with off and on for a long time.
Interacting with People
I always try to live my life as an ambassador for Christ, but lately I really haven't been having much contact with people at all. Am I avoiding them when I do have rare opportunities to interact? Maybe.But I feel like much of this lack of contact is a result of my heavy work and homework load. I have so much on my plate that times to interact seem few and far between.
Of course, they really aren't that infrequent... these opportunities are there, maybe I just need to be intentional about making the most of them.
Occupation
For a time, I thought that I was meant to go into the ministry. I thought that being a youth pastor was my true calling. And while I think that I am still definitely called to be in youth ministry, I just question whether or not that call is to vocational ministry.I really do not think that I am destined to make my living as a pastor... or am I?
This is a question that has plagued me of late, and it relates directly to the question of making an eternal difference.
Is it ok to have a day job that you enjoy, but that might not really make a big impact for eternity? Or do you have to, in some way, advance the kingdom through your occupation?
Part of me thinks that if you have a choice, that your day job, the place you spend 40+ hours per week, should have real opportunities for ministry. Maybe those opportunities are subtle, though? Does it always have to be super obvious? What about your time outside of work? Is it ok for those activities to be where your true eternal impact is made?
These are just a few of the questions pounding through my brain—some of them I have been actively trying to answer for over half a decade. Really, this blog post doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of many of the questions I have.
I think this verse from our sermon on Sunday is appropriate with how I'm feeling right now:
1 Peter 5:7 (NLT) "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."
Your Turn:
Feel free to jump in wherever you have any thoughts.
For a long, long time in my life I had the same questions and frustrations---that I was not making a difference for Christ, that I was not doing enough to bring others to Him, that I was not fulfilling God's intentions for me.
Finally, someone I respected gently told me that it is not up to me---it is up to God to do those things thru me. I should just live my life as best I can and He will do the rest---He works in ways that are mysterious to us, at best.
Thanks, Clint, that's great advice! I must ponder on it some more...
There are probably four or five people who see you at work all day, every day. They know how you deal with stress, how you treat them and your customers and your boss, how much effort you put into your tasks (unspiritual as they may seem) and how much extra work you pick up or else leave for the next shift to worry about.
They also know you're a follower of Jesus, unless you've kept that totally secret.
So what you really have, even if it looks like a job as a waitress or office drone or salesman, is a full-time ministry to a handful of individuals. After you've worked with them for a few months, if somebody were to ask them what kind of Christian you are, they'd either say "He's kind and considerate, and stress seems to only make him work better, and we can count on him to do what he says," or else "He's a slacker - his Jesus talk is a pile of BS, he's egotistical dramatic and and self-centered, and we can't count on him."
That's the Gospel you're teaching them.
You probably occasionally talk about your life as a churchgoer or as a person with Christian influences on your thinking. At least, if Christ is at all important in your life, I assume thats the case :-) So your co-workers know that you're somebody they might ask about the latest crazy thing some "Christian" group or person did. They know you're probably good for an interesting (or maybe infuriating) view on some social issue or spiritual question.
And if your work ethic and your peaceful, caring heart has impressed them that your Jesus is real, at least to you, then when you talk about the Faith you have at least a little credibility. You may or may not end up inviting one or more of these people to church, or inviting them to become disciples of Christ. But you've got a full-time ministry job to your co-workers and steady customers - and it's one you can't quit. Even if you leave for a new job, the new job is the same in this way as the old one.
Most disciples of Christ, in every age, have not been apostles or prophets or pastors. Most of them have been family people, retailers, shoemakers, craftsmen, merchants, and neighbors. And every one of them has had an irreplaceable full-time ministry to the people they work with and for - whether they embraced that ministry or disrespected it as being not spiritual enough.
Hey Silouan, Great thoughts on this topic! Is it cool with you if I repost it as a full blog (with attribution of course?)
With me personally though, I came from a job where I could minister like that, but now I really don't have any of those types of opportunities. I now work from home doing data entry and copywriting so my situation really has changed significantly. I think I'm going to address this by going out of my way to find new opportunities to interact with people on a daily basis.
wow. this Silouan is really on target. It really is all about where God puts us, Gregory. And, you can have a great impact via different forms of communication. But, it is what we live in the every day grind that says it all. memore
for Clint, I love your comments! but living life the best we can. or living it on purpose........for Christ. these might be one and the same to you and very different for another.
Yes, I agree. It can be very different depending on the person... definitely helps to specify!
Are we making a difference? When i hear this I think of Acts 7, when Stephen addresses the council about who Jesus really was. In the crowd was Saul. The seed was planted then. Saul kept up hunting down the followers of Jesus, and during this time how many that he put to death told him about the Messiah? These followers were watering the seed. It did not come to full fruited 'til the Road to Damascus.
This reminds me, are we planting the seed, or just watering the seed, or we will be there when the person finally comes to Jesus? We do not know. Does it really matter which place you take in the chain of events that leads someone to Jesus?
-brianW
Hey brianW, thanks for sharing. I think I needed to hear that!