The Gospel Changes the Way We Do Life

I’ve been reading Timothy Keller’s Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. One of  the things that Keller is known for is his oft repeated statement that the gospel changes everything. Toward the end of this book he shares some examples of how the gospel changes the way Christians work. Gospel change comes about not because we’re told this is what we ought to do. Gospel change comes about as we contemplate what Christ has done for us. As we think about his love and sacrifice for us it changes the way Christians, in this case, do their work.

Thinking about the things Keller says about how a gospel focus changes the way we work I realized these are really ways in which Christians ought to do everything in life. These things are the ways we ought to interact with one another, ways in which we ought to engage in social media debates, ways in which we ought to face trials and adversity. These are good things for us and good things for our mentees to seek. These are things that I am praying for in your life, in the lives of our mentees, and in my own life. 

Keller wrote, “If Christians are animated by different virtues, lifted by a different view of humanity, guided by a different source of wisdom, and perform for a different audience, what will be different about the way we act at work [and in every other sphere of life]? Let me propose a handful of examples.

“Christians should be known to not be ruthless. They should have a reputation for being fair, caring, and committed to others. They should be marked by sympathy and by an unusual willingness to forgive and reconcile. There should be a lack of vengefulness, sanctimony, and spite.”

I have given Jesus many reasons to be angry with me, to lash out at me, to turn away from me, to be done with me. He has done none of things. Despite my sin and faithlessness to him, he has remained faithful to me. He is always kind toward me. I pray today that you, our mentees, and I will be known for being fair, caring, and committed to others, that we will be sympathetic, willing to forgive and reconcile, because that is the way Jesus is with us. I pray that these are the qualities that come through our interactions with others, in our families, with our friends, and on our social posts and debates. 

Keller continued, “In addition, Christians should be known to be generous…” He wrote that in the workplace this can express itself with generosity with time and resources for customers, employees, and coworkers. I pray today that we will be generous with our time, praying for our mentees, writing to our mentees, sharing encouragement generously with them. I pray that we will be generous and encouraging in our communications with others, not just our mentees.  I pray that we will be financially generous with our churches and with ministries that are struggling during these difficult times. I pray that our mentees will be generous and share what they have with other prisoners.  

“Christians should be also known,” wrote Keller, “to be calm and poised in the face of difficulty or failure. This may be the most telling way to judge if a person is drawing on the resources of the gospel in the development of personal character.” I pray today as our mentees face coronavirus inside the prison, as we face the ongoing difficulties of the pandemic in our own lives, financial crisis, social unrest, an angry political season, and our personal trials and afflictions, that we be calm and poised. I pray that we will be calm and poised because we look to Jesus and contemplate deeply his commitment to care for us.

Keller concluded, “Finally, Christians should not be seen as sectarian.” By that he meant that Christians ought not to gather into tribes and hurl insults at people in other tribes. We understand that all people are image bearers of God and God has given talents to all people to benefit the common good. “So we will respect and treat those who believe differently [whether theologically or politically] as valued equals in the workplace [and in our families, neighborhoods, on social media, and in prison dorms].” I pray today that we will actively respect and appreciate the people that cross our paths, even those with whom we disagree. 

I am convinced that if we will look to Christ and allow our appreciation of him to work on us, changing us more into his image, we will have more influence on others and greater contentment in our own lives.

Much love, Barry