2. Character for life
We are people touched by grace - God’s undeserved love and mercy. We are called to live lives which are radically different because of this grace (radical actually comes from the Latin radicalus which means deeply rooted!). You will never meet an older Christian who says they wish they had done less for Jesus, but you do meet a whole load who say they wish they had done more…Live your life now the way you want it to look later on. Do not postpone the great things you dream to do for the glory of God.
Jesus wants his people scattered like salt all over his creation bringing life, flavour and preservation. And Jesus wants us shining bright into the darkest corners of his world. He wants us to be beacons of hope living radically transformed lives for his glory and for the benefit of others; and he wants us to be messengers of hope bringing the profound news of God reconciling all things to himself in Jesus.
Living radically for Jesus may involve taking risks: standing up to corruption; refusing to become part of a system of bribery; refusing to lie or hide the truth; being prepared to walk away from a job if we feel we will be too compromised; turning down promotion because the extra hours would be detrimental to those we are responsible for. Conversely it may require us to walk boldly into the corridors of power, into the lion’s den exactly because we have the opportunity to fight injustice from inside.
In Daniel chapter 1, we read about a young Hebrew man taken into exile, who had to serve king Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. Daniel refused to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols. He drew a line there, and decided that eating this food would challenge his identity as someone dependent upon God Most High. But we also read that before Daniel drew this line, he had actually said 'yes' to three other demands that could have challenged his identity: he entered into the Babylonian education system which encompassed a completely anti-biblical worldview; he accepted employment, working in a position of responsibility for a dictator; and he even allowed his Babylonian colleagues to change his name to one that subtly challenged his loyalty to God.
The steps he took at the start of his working life left him with enough confidence in the goodness and faithfulness of God to literally face the lions den when ordered to turn his back on God.
As we begin work, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us discernment to know where our lines of no compromise must be; and we need to ask the Holy Spirit to grow in us ever more Christ-like character so that we know how to do good even when there is nobody to see us.
“You cannot blame meat for going rotten, that’s just what meat does. But you can blame salt for not being there!” Rev John Stott