I know that Christians get a lot of bad press these days. That’s why I am happy to tell you about an article that came out in a Toronto, newspaper. A reporter undertook an investigation into the ethical practices of auto repair shops in the city. He took a spark-plug wire off one of the spark plugs, making the car run unevenly. He then took the car in to different shops and asked them to fix it. Time after time people sold him unnecessary repairs, or charged him for repairs that were not even done. His last stop was to a small garage. A fellow named Fred came out, popped open the hood, and said, “Let me listen to that thing.” After a few seconds, he told the undercover reporter, “I see what’s wrong, your spark-plug wire came off.” He then carefully put it back on.
The reporter asked, “What do I owe you?”
“I’m not going to charge you for that. I didn’t fix anything. I just reattached the wire,” Fred responded.
The writer then came clean and told Fred what he was doing, and how that along the way, he had been charged all kinds of money by mechanics looking at the same wire. He asked Fred, “Why didn’t you charge me anything?”
Fred replied, “I’m a Christian, and I believe that everything we do, should be done to glorify God. I’m not a preacher and I’m not a missionary, but I can be the most honest Christian mechanic that I can be. So, in everything I do here at the shop, I try to do in a way that the good Lord will be pleased.”
That witness so impacted the reporter that when he wrote his article, he gave it this headline: “Christian Mechanic, Honest to the Glory of God.”
A question that comes up often with youth when we talk about the crucifixion of Jesus is: “If Jesus had all the power of the world at his disposal, why didn’t he do something on the day they crucified him?”
That question points out the difference between self-serving and servanthood. We are so used to seeing self-serving in our world today that the kids can’t see why Jesus didn’t save himself. But, once they are able to enter into the mind of Jesus, they get their answer: Jesus’ purpose wasn’t to save himself, glorify himself, nor take care of his personal needs. His purpose and mission was to save us. And by keeping that purpose ALWAYS at the forefront of his mind, he was able to endure what he had to, in order to bring us salvation.
Maybe you aren’t called to be a preacher or a missionary across the ocean, but today you can, in the place you are, fulfill your purpose by bring glory to God by the way you live.
~ God bless you and your mission. Dan