by Brian Walters, Director of Adult Ministries @ MBC Loudoun

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).

“The pious lives of Christians did not give me anything that the lives of men of other faiths had failed to give. I had seen in other lives just the same reformation that I had heard of among Christians. Philosophically there was nothing extraordinary in Christian principles. From the point of view of sacrifice, it seemed to me that the Hindus greatly surpassed the Christians” (Mahatma Gandhi).

Doesn’t Gandhi’s quote make you wonder what type of pious Christians he was watching? Were these men and women really Christians? I guess we will never know the answers to these questions, but what matters for us today is how we live as Christ followers right now.

One thing we can glean from the verse in Colossians is that our work is a testimony to others of our love for Christ. What Gandhi is basically saying is he noticed nothing different from observing how Christians actually lived out their lives compared to people of other religions. Actions of Christians did not match their words. Gandhi even goes as far as to say that the fruit of people of other religions seemed even more abundant than many Christians he was watching.

Whether we realize it or not we are each ministers of the gospel wherever we work or whatever we do. Our ultimate goal is to glorify and honor God (1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Peter 4:10-11). Yes, we don’t always get it right (Romans 3:10), but we should all strive for excellence in whatever we do because we were bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19-20), but also because we are called to be salt and light in this world (Matt 5:13-16) and we don’t want to be a barrier that causes someone else to stumble. Lastly, our work is done in service to God and he deserves nothing but our best.

Let’s take the time today in prayer to ask God to look at the condition of our hearts and ask Him to reveal to us areas in our life we may not being doing with excellence. Let’s approach Him with a teachable spirit and be ready to hear something we may not want to hear. I know there are areas I can strive to be better in for His glory, so what are those areas for you?