My Mission Field
I am bi-vocational. That’s fancy talk for “I don’t make no money as a pastor so I gotta have a job.” In addition to pastoring a small church, I also work for a sheet metal fabricator in the sales department. It has its benefits and it has its detriments. One of the benefits of working sales in a manufacturing setting is that I am in contact with a lot of people that need the Gospel, both within the company and outside. Another is that I don’t fall into that pastor trap of forgetting that the overwhelming majority of Christians spend the overwhelming majority of their waking moments with unbelievers.
That being the case, I would like to set aside the pastor me for a few blog-posts and talk from the point of view of the me that is in the business world surrounded by unbelievers. Because for the majority of us Christians, our every day mission field is the office, or the depot, or the factory, or the store, or the stockroom, or the classroom, or the coffee-house, or the bar, or wherever you earn a living.
So I want to spend some posts talking about some of the people I have met here in my mission field: some of the things they have said and some of the things they have done, and I want to look at what that means for us as we try to stay faithful to the Gospel and to our Lord in the workplace.
Because we have a tough job. It would not be God-honoring to spend our time evangelizing when we are being paid to do something else. It would also not be God-honoring to not be a light to those in darkness even as we go about our (sometimes very boring) daily work activities. Then, throw in the fact that we are surrounded by unbelievers: people that think we are weird, or unintelligent, or even inherently evil because of our beliefs. People that are ignorant of the truth or don’t even believe in such a thing as truth. People who, at best, disagree with us, and, at worst, are outright antagonistic and even hateful.
And all the while, we don’t have the same “choices” they do: we are commanded to love them, to speak and live the truth, and to always let our light so shine before them that God is glorified. (Why don’t we all just go ahead and read Matthew 5 before the next post…)
I would ask that we all do the following as we go through the coming posts:
1. Pray that God would reveal to us where we fall short of honoring Him in the workplace, be it by taking advantage of our boss’ time or by failing to show His light.
2. Remember that we are not called to judge unbelievers. That right belongs to God and Him alone.
3. Pray that God would break our hearts for the lost. His is broken for them.
In the meantime, do you have any encouragements or stories about being a Christian in the workplace? If so, please share them by commenting below.
That being the case, I would like to set aside the pastor me for a few blog-posts and talk from the point of view of the me that is in the business world surrounded by unbelievers. Because for the majority of us Christians, our every day mission field is the office, or the depot, or the factory, or the store, or the stockroom, or the classroom, or the coffee-house, or the bar, or wherever you earn a living.
So I want to spend some posts talking about some of the people I have met here in my mission field: some of the things they have said and some of the things they have done, and I want to look at what that means for us as we try to stay faithful to the Gospel and to our Lord in the workplace.
Because we have a tough job. It would not be God-honoring to spend our time evangelizing when we are being paid to do something else. It would also not be God-honoring to not be a light to those in darkness even as we go about our (sometimes very boring) daily work activities. Then, throw in the fact that we are surrounded by unbelievers: people that think we are weird, or unintelligent, or even inherently evil because of our beliefs. People that are ignorant of the truth or don’t even believe in such a thing as truth. People who, at best, disagree with us, and, at worst, are outright antagonistic and even hateful.
And all the while, we don’t have the same “choices” they do: we are commanded to love them, to speak and live the truth, and to always let our light so shine before them that God is glorified. (Why don’t we all just go ahead and read Matthew 5 before the next post…)
I would ask that we all do the following as we go through the coming posts:
1. Pray that God would reveal to us where we fall short of honoring Him in the workplace, be it by taking advantage of our boss’ time or by failing to show His light.
2. Remember that we are not called to judge unbelievers. That right belongs to God and Him alone.
3. Pray that God would break our hearts for the lost. His is broken for them.
In the meantime, do you have any encouragements or stories about being a Christian in the workplace? If so, please share them by commenting below.
Comments
Post a Comment