You who sit on Jesus’ front desk

Has this happened to you?

A clerk was rude and you have not been back to that store.

A desk clerk at a motel ignored you and you took your business elsewhere.

The receptionist at the doctor’s office acted snarly and you are seriously considering finding another specialist.

An usher at a new church acted cold and unfriendly and you will not be returning to that church.

While you are pondering that ill-mannered treatment and your response to it, consider that as a follower of Jesus Christ, you sit on His front desk. You represent Jesus to the public. You are, so to speak, answering His phone and dealing with inquirers seeking Him.

People are making decisions about Jesus–to come to Him, ignore Him, or oppose Him–because of your behavior.

If that doesn’t drive you to your knees in a panic, you’re not paying attention.

The Apostle Peter said, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9).  He said further, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (2:12).

They are watching you.

You wish they wouldn’t. You even tell people, “Don’t look at me; look at Jesus.”

You’re wasting your breath.  They’re going to look at you to see if you are real, Jesus Christ is real, and this faith is genuine.

You have no choice in this matter. God said from the beginning this is how it would be done.

You may recall that after David’s sin with Bathsheba and the manslaughter of her husband to cover up his wickedness, the prophet Nathan informed him that the heathen nations around them were “blaspheming God” as a result.  They looked at David and came to conclusions about God. (II Samuel 12:14).

Therefore, you have some tough decisions to make.

1) You’re going to have to decide what to do about those areas where you do not measure up.  We all have such areas; none have arrived at the finish line yet; none of the living have been glorified.

Your choices are two: live as a hypocrite (ignoring the inconsistencies in your talk and your walk and hope no one notices) or humble yourself and live as a fellow struggler among strugglers.

2) You’re going to have to decide whether you have an obligation to outsiders and your weaker brethren.  You will recall what the Apostle Paul said about that: “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another” (Romans 13:8).  We owe them love.

And he said, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more” (I Corinthians 9:19).

3) You must decide whether to live your life according to what you deserve (your “rights”) or ask the Lord what He wishes you to do (“His will”). On the night before He was arrested, tried, and crucified, Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42).

4) You will decide every day of your life whether to abide in the Lord and draw strength from His limitless reservoir or live in your own strength and go bankrupt every 24 hours. “Not that we are adequate for these things, but our adequacy is of God” (II Corinthians 3:5).

5) Will your ambition to achieve something great in life drive you or will the desire to please Christ in all things be the consuming passion of your life? You have to decide.

6) Is it enough for you to hear His “well done, good and faithful servant” at the end of your life? Some people calling themselves followers of Jesus go for the glory now instead of later.  Each must decide.

7) Will you get up every morning of your life and ask the Lord to touch souls through you, love others through you, encourage others through you?

May all who come behind us (and before us!) find us faithful, my friend.

 

 

 

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