People Watching
Over the last few months God seems to be showing me more and more literal examples of the old Sunday School lesson that we do not know who is watching us. God has also been revealing to me the fact that I know that some people are watching, even if I forgot or want to forget that piece of information at times. Recently several people that I have known for a while have shown themselves to be obvious me watchers, if there is such a thing. Fortunately, the overall reaction to this fact has been good, but it makes me more and more aware of just how many times we are Jesus to a person without realizing it.
My future brother in law Jonathan and I get along very well. A large part of that is due to the fact that he, like myself, dated their daughter for longer then the parents (and the daughter) would have wanted. Jonathan and I have learned to be ourselves within the family, and to blend our strengths into the family instead of detract from the strength of the family. At the most recent two family reunions Jonathan and I spent a lot of time around each other. Several times it was just him and I doing things while everyone else was doing something else. It seems more and more that we are viewed as a team within the family. I guess that is good, since we will be around each other for the 50 or so years.
Now for the members of the family that additionally contribute to this issue. I have a very different relationship with the husband of one of my wife’s cousins - Adam. The family reunion two years ago was the first family event Adam was really at. Adam is a good guy and Jonathan and I both like him, so during the last two family reunions we have begun letting him into our group. This year we also had the addition of another cousins long term boyfriend from Maryland - Chip. Chip too is a good guy, though he is struggling with several large issues in his life. Anyway, at the end this years reunion, much like the end of last year, my wife tells me something like - “You know that you were the first guy to marry in and that Jonathan , Adam, and Chip look to you for how to act and be a part of this family.”
WHAT??? I am just a guy that married a gal from upper East Tennessee. I did not sign up to be the guide, or example to all the males that follow me. Honestly though, I guess I did and I knew it when I ask her to marry me. Weather I, or Jonathan, or Adam, or Chip like it I am the example for the “boy’s” that marry in. I knew that I was going to be the example all the other son / brother in laws and cousins spouses (at least this generations) are held or compared too simply by being the first. The fact that I also am a individual, and tend to be noticed, makes it even more evident that I will be used as a example (good or bad) to those that marry in. To say otherwise would be to lie to both myself and to others.
In addition to being a example to the guys that marry in to the family, my wife and I both talk openly about our marriage with our co-workers and friends. Sure we have problems, we have issues, every marriage does, but we have a good marriage and that is different today. Since we talk about our marriage, since we speak well of each other, and routinely speak about our love for each other we have become examples to many. So, simply by being open about how we feel and how our marriage works we have become a example to others that we work with, talk with, and know.
For me at least, the price of being the first to marry in and to having a good marriage is that I became a example to others. That same price is true for my wife and myself as a couple, so to deny our roles as examples, both inside of and outside of the family, would be like a Christian saying - “I signed up to be blessed, but I did not know God was calling me to be a example to others.” I contend that they, Christians, knew, or at least that they should have known, that they were going to be examples to the world when they accepted Christ.
You have to be very unobservant, to completely blind, to come to Christ without knowing that it will take sacrifice and change to follow Him, and that by going through that change will make you a example to others. That is also one more reason why I shy away from those that base the salvation experience on emotion. Emotion tends to make us ignore the facts that we know to be true and to act in ways that we will not be willing to commit too consistently. Once you accept Christ, you become a example to others. That fact is clear throughout the New Testament. The mere act of baptism shows us as being dead to our old ways, and being reborn in a new and different life.
The key to what we are talking about today is being new and different. When you are new and / or different you become a example to others simply because they will see you for what you are. Then, they will want to know why you are that way. Others will pay attention to what you do because they will want to see if the changes you made are something they would be interested in pursuing themselves. Simply, they want to know if they should be interested in making the same changes you made and they will use you as the example of what that kind of life looks like lived out. Christ calls us to take up our cross daily and follow Him. That alone should tell us that we will be viewed as examples by those that are around or that follow us.
This call to be a example / guide to others only increases when one becomes a leader. My wife will tell you that it drives me crazy to miss church, for any reason. This is not because we have to go to church to be saved, or to meet God, or to gain points with God. None of those things are true. God is everywhere, I can meet and talk with Him at anytime, and none of our works are “good” in His eyes. No, I hate to miss church because we are leaders.
Leaders in any group attend the events of the group, and they are active in the organization, church should be no different. To do, or say, otherwise is to want a position or a title but too not want the responsibility that comes with the job. Church leaders should set a example for how people in the church conduct themselves, and that means being involved in the work and activities of the church. Being involved in the church means knowing what the body is doing, where they are doing it, and then joining in on the labor. Leaders are examples whether they are at a building, on the work site, in a field, or in a foreign land. At this point, I must also say that I think that it is a sick person that would want church leadership solely for the position or title as I find that church leadership is probably the least earthly rewarding leadership position one can take. Now obviously the rewards for church leadership are great, but the majority of them are spiritual or eternal not earthly and temporal, but that is another point for another day.
I have wondered around in this post to simply say that we are all spiritual leaders to someone weather we are officially leaders or not. You probably already know that, but even with that knowledge I know that I sometimes forget just how many people are watching. I know that some site / blog readers are, I know my Sunday school students are, I know that a few youth are, I know that maybe some adults are, I know there are possibly even some co-workers too, but I miss so many others that are watching and I do not realize it. That is the real point, we are leading people without realizing it, so lets be doubly sure that we are leading them in the right direction and in the right way. Let’s also not be shocked when we find out that someone is watching as it should not be a surprise to us, and we should not act like that fact is surprising to begin with.
Have a great day, stay strong, be courageous, and serve God in all things.
