Morning Devotional
August  9, 2005
"The Seven Dwarfs Theme"      
    by Don Emmitte

Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don't be afraid and don't worry. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But you must do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak evil against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong! (1 Peter 3:13-17 NLT).

 

Do you know the theme song of the Seven Dwarfs? I’m sure you do. The chorus went, "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's home from work we go." Well, as I thought about that, I remembered the modern version of that chorus. Too many people find themselves singing that version. It goes: “I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go.” Believe me, I understand that version pretty well myself! And it can only lead to a sense of misery and rob you of your peace of mind. The key is in a true understanding of our mission at work. Have you even thought about work as a mission broader than a means to paying your debts? If you haven’t, now is a good time to begin!

 

You may think that work is a meaningless exercise in futility that you have to do because… well… everyone has to make a living. But work is much more than that. It is your mission field. Regardless of what you do, virtually everyone works in some kind of community. There are people around you. And whenever there are people around you there is a mission field.

 

Now that doesn’t mean you should be witnessing to everyone all the time (God help your poor co-workers if that’s the case), or even that you need to necessarily have a strategy for winning your workplace to Christ. But it does mean you need to pay attention to relationships, because it is through relationships that our mission is carried out. That’s the meaning of Pete’s words in our reading today. Peter says we should always be ready to explain our Christian hope should anyone ask us about it. Now it may take weeks, months, years, or even a lifetime for that question to come up, but in every case it will be a consistent life of hope and a loving relationship that will bring it about. This is not “evangelism” (that’s when we go out with the express purpose of proclaiming the gospel and giving people a chance to accept Christ), this is lifestyle. Evangelism is once in a while; this is all the time. Our love for people and our hope in Christ will put us in a position to point to Christ when asked about it. This should be our strategy, and how you live out this day in the secular world is a very big part of that.

 

I personally believe that our place in the community and our position in the work force are only excuses to put us in relationship with people, many of whom do not know Christ. And this is the true mission of our lives. Our mission is not even to lead people to Christ or make converts out of everyone as much as it is to be a witness. You or I don’t make anyone a Christian anyway. God does that. But you can be a witness for Him through simply being a loving, hope-filled Christian in a relationship with those who don’t yet know the love of Christ. So your mission today has a name and a face. Name that someone now in prayer, and ask God to show you how to strengthen your relationship with that person today.