Representation

I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea of representation. Many have surely heard it said that part of our job, here on earth, is to represent God to those around us. Hopefully you've all heard the saying that "You may be the only Bible someone ever reads" or "You may be the only Jesus someone gets to meet." The idea behind these phrases, of course, is that YOU carry the message of Christ, in all you do, in all you say.

The Bible tells us that we are surrounded by a "great cloud of witnesses" (see Heb 12:1). These witnesses are perhaps meant to be the angelic host, perhaps there is more to it. I am not certain. What I am sure about, though, is that the people in our lives see us. There are children in our world, coworkers in our days, neighbors on our streets and family at our holidays. And when they see you - even out of the corner of their eyes - they are taking in parts of the story of who you are.

It took me a couple years to be ready to put a Christian symbol on my car after committing my life to Jesus. I wanted to make sure I could be a consistently gracious driver before I went around advertising myself as a believer. And if that thought strikes you as unpleasant - that a "Jesus fish" or bumper sticker or other identifier is equivalent to "advertising yourself as a believer," then please remember that people do notice. And whatever your motivation may be for your cross necklace, Christian bumper sticker or sloganed T-shirt, it's the non-believer that you encounter who is your primary audience. It is to him or her that you are representing Jesus. Think...every day you climb into your car, little Jesus fish on the back, you take on the mantle of emissary for the Lord. And each time you talk about going to church, all in hearing distance become the mission field...

My heart's desire is to be someone that others see and think, "She's different. I wonder what it is." But, God, I ask you would NEVER let it be that others would see me and, on any level, think "Gosh, I thought she was a Christian."

None of us are perfect, and I am not the only one who will fall short of the ideal from time to time. But, when I remember that the word "represent" really is re-presenting Jesus to those around me, I remember the weight of the responsibility of being His. There is a whole cloud of witnesses who see me with spiritual eyes; yet the audience here in my daily life is no less important.