In the World?

In the years since I rededicated my life to Christ, His fingerprint has shown up all over my life. My work place is one area in which I am intentional about two things: 1) Being myself and 2) Letting this include the revelation to others that I love and follow Jesus.

I haven't found it useful or effective to be aggressive or pushy about my faith, but I am open and frank with others who ask, and volunteer readily any relevant information when it comes up naturally. For example, rather than telling people, "I am going on vacation to Colorado," I'm the first one to say, "I'm going on a trip to chaperon our church's youth group to a youth conference in Colorado." May not seem like much of a difference, but as I've lived this way the last few years, I'm struck more and more by how unusual this seems to be. There are a lot of folks that I've come across in different areas of my personal life that won't say a word about their own spiritual and religious life until others are out of the room. I don't judge these folks and their hesitancy, and there is a large part of me that really, really understands the plight of the "closet Christian."

Part of the problem, I think, is that there's a societal perception of Christians as people who are incapable of being a part of regular society....people who are "weird." My personal belief is that it is possible to be "set apart" and still be a part of a "normal" social circle, especially in contexts like a workplace. If I only hang out with other believers at work, I won't have much opportunity to influence others, will I?

The trick, I've found, is living in integrity with my conviction while also being a part of the world around me. Because although this is not my "home," I do live here for the time being. And to be salt and light to the world requires, at least in part, having some interaction with it.

I'll be honest in saying a few things, none of which may seem to go together at this point:

1) I am still figuring out how to do both. How to be in the world without being of the world is a work in progress for me. I want each day to honor the heart of God; and I want to not be so removed from the unbelievers around me that they miss the chance to see what a difference it can make to live this way.

2) I know that living this "outloud" kind of way makes a difference. I definitely have friends at work who note and have been influenced by the ways in which I am not like "everyone else." And some of them have asked a lot of questions. Some of them haven't. I leave some of that up to God and His plans.

3) There are people who have shied away from me once they've figured out the reasons behind my unwillingness to participate in gossip or other negativity, etc. And that's okay. I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a sold-out follower of Jesus in this context. And being unpopular with a few coworkers who have their own reservations standing in the way is the least of my concerns. I stand before a great cloud of witnesses, and there is only One whose approval matters.

I think this is an area the Lord is asking me to explore further, so you may see more about it here. What does it mean, and how far should one go? And what does that look like? I don't have most of the answers yet. But I do know that it's a work in progress, figured out one day at a time... just like most other things.