Profession or Professional?
Profession or Professional
“Commit thy works unto the LORD, And thy thoughts shall be established.”
Proverbs 16:3
I profess to be a Christian, but do I consider myself a professional?
One of the definitions of profession is;
An act of openly declaring or publicly claiming a belief.
I openly declare that I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried and was resurrected three days later. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I read and study the Bible to gain knowledge of the principles, teachings and commandments of Jesus Christ and place him at the center of my life.
But am I a professional Christian?
One of the many definitions of a professional is;
Following a line of conduct as if it were a profession.
So by this definition, I should be.
I should place every emphasis in everything that I do for Jesus Christ in my relationship with Him. I should teach, learn and develop myself to follow Christ as if it were my livelihood, as if it were the most important thing in my life. After all, isn’t it?
My grandfather used to tell me, “if you enjoy what you do for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life”.
I love being a Christian. I love being in a relationship with God. I love seeing my life change and improve because I put my faith in Him and not the world or myself. I love seeing the relationships I have with other people change and develop into Christ-centered relationships.
Our Christianity is based off of our belief in Jesus Christ. He was God, made into man to reconcile us back to Himself because sin was separating us from Him. It blows my mind to think of that in detail. Would we be willing to give so much?
We are a wretched people. Not a single person walking the earth today is without sin, but so many are without Jesus Christ.
All of this was so foreign and abstract to me. I believed God was real, I went to church and I self-professed that I was a Christian. If someone asked, I told them I was a Christian.
But did I take it seriously? No, not at all.
Would I talk to a stranger about Jesus Christ in the grocery store? Would I introduce myself as a Christian at a social event? Would I reach out to a family member and share my story of salvation? Would I offer to pray for a stranger publicly?
No. There is no explanation or excuse that is worth the spilled blood of Jesus. I didn’t take it seriously enough.
My Christian religion was a part-time thing. Go to church sporadically, never picked up the Bible except to carry it to the car and prayed publicly to make people think I was something I wasn’t even close to being.
I had to realize that I was failing myself and the only hope I had was in Jesus Christ. It wasn’t a fix, it was an eternal solution. And it was something I needed to take seriously.
Jesus made me His life’s work. From the time He was born, His purpose was my life. Your life. All life.
I’m still not good at it. I fail daily. But I’m better than I ever was. I’m in pursuit. Not standing still. I purposely put Jesus Christ at the center of my life. I plant the seed. I take it personally and I won’t hide it or let it be confined to any one space. I don’t check the boxes anymore.
I have changed what I spend my time on, what I used to focus on and desire, and I turn to God and my Bible to lead my life.
I take my Christian relationship and profession as serious as any work I’ve ever done.
Do you?
“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Colossians 3:2
“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Romans 10:10
“that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Romans 10:9