“Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.” (Hosea 10:12, NIV)
One of my favorite singing groups in the church of my youth, was the Ambassadors for Christ. I loved this group not simply for their outstanding musical abilities, but because their name, evokes exactly what we should be as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer is an ambassador for Christ. An ambassador is someone who is an official representative of a foreign kingdom or government. As ambassadors for Christ, we represent the Kingdom of God.
As ambassadors for Christ, we spend a lot of our lives in the work environment. In most of our respective work environments, we do not actively share the Word of God with our mouths, but are more inclined to share God with our work habits and attitudes. When we serve God with our lifestyle in the work environment, we are planting seeds that will often get planted deeper than if we were to audibly share scripture or preach a sermon. Why? Because the people are watching us, and most people would rather see a sermon than hear one. Consider this while at work, let your light shine. The Bible says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24, NIV)
Believers, situated in the work environment, should always aspire to glorify God and to inspire others to desire to know him, by practicing the tenets of our faith. Your good attitude, manifested in your unwillingness to talk against your fellow co-workers and your propensity to be where you are supposed to be, will encourage others and plant a seed of inspiration for the person to wonder, “Why is she (he) so different?” God is honored when his children walk differently in the work environment than those who do not know the Lord.
Through the years, I have experienced many co-workers who sought to confide in me or seek guidance for a problem, and many times I did not have a relationship with the individual. When I would ask, “Why did you seek me out” the response would often be, “Because I noticed you don’t curse or laugh at off-color (filthy) jokes. I never see you run anyone down or talk behind their back. Something appears to be different about you.” I am not alone in this. Many ambassadors for Christ have had this same experience. In a world where we must genuinely respect the fact that we do not use our work time to preach, we most certainly should, use our work time to be excellent and shine as God would have us to be. This type of living serves to plant seeds for those that do not know Christ but will be motivated to seek Him because His ambassador is outstanding.
So dear one, don’t worry so much about trying to share scriptures, preach or even pray at your workplace. If opportunities present, go for it! However, instead, focus on the everyday mundane things of treating people with kindness, refraining from backbiting, refraining from speaking unfavorably about others (unless constructive criticism is called for), being late, and refraining from displaying a nasty disposition. These “seeds” by the power of the Holy Spirit, will grow in ways you cannot imagine.
Elder Jerome Woods, II is the husband of Alana M. Woods and is the son of the late Jerome Woods, Sr. and Larina Woods. He is a Washington, D.C. native and associate Elder at High Calling Ministries pastored by George W. Hawkins, Jr. Elder Woods is a graduate of The George Washington University (1994) where he received his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature with minors in Sociology and Latin Classical Humanities. Elder Woods received his Juris Doctorate in 1997 from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.
