Among your co-workers, God has positioned you for powerful influence.
In your neighborhood, God has positioned you for powerful influence.
With your in-laws, God has positioned you for powerful influence.
And in your relationships, God has positioned you for powerful influence.
Louie and Shelley Giglio remind us that God has intentionally placed each of us in other people’s lives so they can watch Him transform our lives—because when God changes a life, people see it.
Put simply, our witness is strongest when the quality of our lives is more powerful than the quantity of our words. Said another way, pretty is as pretty does. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Matthew 6:21-23
What is inside of us will indeed make its way out of us. The light within us shines out of us, and darkness within us reveals itself. That’s why it’s such a great folly that most of us spend all day worrying about our outward appearance rather than the condition of our hearts. It is the condition of our hearts that most effectively displays Jesus to the world around us.
For the Christian, this is where our perspective has to shift. We have to spend more time considering what our actions and attitudes are putting on display. We have to consider often if we are living according to the commands of 1 Peter 3 or not; if we are treating our spouses the way God has called us to or not; if we are eager to do good and turn from evil or not.
Paul says it this way in his letter to the Philippians:
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:5-8
We are co-heirs with Christ, a title that comes with celebration and calling. Jesus is making us new; it’s time to act like it.
Scripture References
21.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.22.“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,6:22 The Greek for healthy here implies generous.your whole body will be full of light.23.But if your eyes are unhealthy,6:23 The Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy.your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
1.Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2.when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3.Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4.Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5.For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6.like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.7.Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.Suffering for Doing Good8.Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9.Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10.For,“Whoever would love lifeand see good daysmust keep their tongue from eviland their lips from deceitful speech.11.They must turn from evil and do good;they must seek peace and pursue it.12.For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteousand his ears are attentive to their prayer,but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”3:12 Psalm 34:12-1613.Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14.But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats3:14 Or fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”3:14 Isaiah 8:1215.But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16.keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17.For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18.For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19.After being made alive,3:18,19 Or but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20.to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21.and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.3:21 Or but an appeal to God for a clear conscience It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22.who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
5.In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:6.Who, being in very nature2:6 Or in the form of God,did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7.rather, he made himself nothingby taking the very nature2:7 Or the form of a servant,being made in human likeness.8.And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himselfby becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
