Christians who complain, gossip, belittle others, always jump to negative conclusions, or in general do not demonstrate the fruit of the spirit have a believability gap.
If I try to convince you that my diet is great, but I am still overweight, you will question the effectiveness of the plan. If I tell you about a great instructional strategy to try in the classroom, but my students still perform poorly on assessments, you will question my ability select an effective strategy. If I talk about how awesome God is, yet I humiliate my students by yelling at them, you will question my God. What good does it do to tell people how great our Savior is if they cannot see that we ourselves have been saved from sin? Let your light shine.
What does Jesus mean by light? Jesus also calls Himself "the light of the world." In the book of John He is called "the life that is the light of men," "the light that shines in the darkness" (John 1:4-5). The light in us is His light, the indwelling Christ, the Holy Spirit within us. The apostle Paul speaks of "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:4). We have that light shining through our lives if our actions reflect the nature of Christ—His love, compassion, and forgiveness. His light shines through our attitudes, words, and deeds. When people see that our lives have been changed they see the power of God at work in us, they will agree that we do have a great Savior. When they see redeemed people, they are more inclined to believe that we have a Redeemer. The Christlike life is what becomes convincing and leads others to question why we behave in such ways.
A lost person is not capable of worshiping and coming into the presence of a holy God. But that lost person can see and hear us praising God and be brought to faith in Him. The psalmist says that when I have a new song of praise in my mouth, many will see it and be awestruck by our great God and come to trust in Him.
A believer filled with praise makes a tremendous positive impact on an unbeliever. As well, a believer with a hardened heart, can also have a tremendous impact - a negative one. God made us so that we can harden our hearts and literally shut out unwanted influences. It was meant to be a positive thing, but because we haven’t understood this, what God meant for good has actually worked against us. How many times have you purposefully avoided a social event, particular person, student, or parent in order to save yourself the trouble of interacting with someone or maybe there is a fear of being sucked into the behavior.
The world has its own priorities for sure. It's good for Christians to participate in some activities, as it is there, we will find those who do not yet know our Savior. But by avoiding drinks with friends (no one says you have to drink or you could model moderation) or by attending a private school instead of a public one, we miss out on opportunities to win unbelievers over to Christ.
A challenge for you is to intentionally look for those around us, students, colleagues, parents, friends, or supervisors, who demonstrate stress, anger, fear, or emotional outbursts. It is quite possible that they may have had little or no experience with unconditional love and they won't know what to do with positivity and kindness. They are not accustomed to getting anything “free” or receiving anything they have not earned or deserved. Many are used to acting in a such a way as to intentionally push you away or run you off in order to avoid being rejected. They take a proactively abrasive and confrontational approach to everyone that comes into their lives. But, God can soften their hearts and minds, as we become Jesus in skin for them. Do not be discouraged when you continue to receive negative responses, as it was a process that occurred over time that brought them to where they are now, and it will take a process of deliberate acts to help them see that there is another way to live.
As you go into this week work to apply these five actions:
Be Christ's Ambassador. - Represent Him and His purposes…and His purpose is to reconcile everyone to God, to draw us all nearer to our Creator who loves us.
Be Courageous. - Fortify yourself with prayer to allay any fears of becoming like the world or being sucked into negative behaviors.
Be Intentional. - Choose to interact with those who are typically more difficult and allow God to take control of the situation. Let God plant the seed in that person that can later be harvested.
Be Loving. - In all circumstances speak the truth, but do so in love. In doing so, you will open yourself up and Christ's light will shine through.
Be Responsive. - Allow Christ to speak to you in all situations and then respond as such. Allow Him to guide you in every word you speak, interaction you have, or task you accomplish.
Not everyone will understand when you interact with them "on purpose". That's alright. Let others have their thoughts. But let it be the love of Christ that compels you. Let the love of Christ refocus you, set your priorities and purpose, and determine how you feel about yourself. Let the love of Christ impact everything you say and do. Let it move you to kindness and positive action.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:14 NLT
Dear Heavenly Father,
I pray for God to show us what really matters in our classrooms and schools, so that it's not the pressure of having low test scores that compels us to make it through each day, but the love of Christ. Allow God to help us act not from a sense competition or pride, but from a sense of His love. Allow Him to make His presence known to us, so that His love will be so all-encompassing, so overwhelming, so beyond understanding that we cannot help but be compelled by it in every aspect of your work so others will wonder why and question. I pray that we will be given the opportunity to share that Christ is our Lord and Savior. In Jesus' Holy Name I pray....Amen.
Adapted from Hardness of Heart:A Condition You May Have and Not Even Know it… by Andrew Wommack & Compelled by the love of Christ by Angela Watson.
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