Devo post #8

12/22/14

1 Peter 2:12

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

I think this is one of those verses that is both overrated and underrated in the Christian community. Overrated by those who just want to be lazy instead of pursuing ministries, saying that it is just enough to live a normal life and act in a good way instead of living a life of daily sacrifice and attempting to reveal and preach the Gospel in their everyday life. It is also underrated by people who are very gung ho about doing missions, whether it is homeless ministry of going to the 10/40 window. As if their brothers and sisters who are doing a 5 day white/blue collar job in “reasonably wealthy” America are not doing their part in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth and preaching the Gospel. I am going to say this: living a life so devoted to God and doing His good will and showing unreasonable/uncultural love and kindness in the workplace is a Biblical method of preaching the Gospel, and this isn’t just consolidated to this verse in the Bible but quite a few others. This message is common in the Bible. Jesus Himself took on the role of a carpenter, and Paul used His “job” as a tentmaker to fund his mission trips. He refused to ask for donations, though he did accept them. The Gospel is to be seen by the Holy Spirit, not reasoned or convinced through clever words. It is by the supernatural power of God anyone is saved, and God can and has used men and women in the normal, everyday workforce. All Christians are called to do missions and preach the Gospel, but the locale can be different. Yes, it is more physically dangerous to go to Pakistan or Turkey or East St. Louis, but it is still a war zone at any and every company. There will always be persecution, and some of these places will foster more temptations and distractions and sin than others. That is the reality of the environment we live in. Work theology has a real and important role in the Kingdom of God because all people, here and there, need to hear the Gospel and make it real in their lives.