God's Invitation to Everyday Discipleship
Some jobs- even short-lived ones- really shape you. I had worked for years in the restaurant industry but this one was different. Locally owned, creative, right in the heart of the Central Corridor of Phoenix. I had so much respect for what our chefs and line cooks developed and created. But I’ll never forget one interview with our head chef. They asked him, What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
Salt.
Salt? Shouldn’t a chef have a more sophisticated answer? His answer resurfaced in my mind seven years later when I was cooking with my 2 year-old (a rare occurrence when her baby brother is actually taking a real nap). We were salting beautiful purple potatoes and I started explaining how salt draws out the flavor and potential in foods. It doesn’t serve in a dish to draw attention to itself. In fact, when that happens it ruins the meal.
God’s people are the salt of the Earth. Our vocation as Christians is to be like that chef’s favorite ingredient. Our presence in our homes, neighborhoods and workplace should draw out the potential God embedded in his world.
The labor of a landscaper cultivates and restores the land so that neighbors can be nourished by beauty as they walk by; stirring longing for renewal and restoration.
A neighbor stops to get to know a woman experiencing homelessness at his local park; drawing out her image-bearing beauty that can be veiled by both (inter)personal and systemic sin.
In a culture where our work is a means to make a name for ourselves, God invites us to make his name great. In industries that model self-preservation, we are called to the self-sacrificial love of Christ. Our work and rest can become places that allow us to practice the ways of the Kingdom.
In this time of the “already- not yet” of Christ’s kingdom, we are called to be a people that makes the kingdom of God visible. We are a people who have been set apart and empowered by the Spirit to intentionally play our part in God’s mission. That means that every industry and every role, as long as it isn’t fundamentally going against God’s design for his world, are part of God’s stage of redemption.
Living in light of the Gospel requires us to be mindful and intentional. We desperately need to partner with one another to be faithful to the Gospel and to put Jesus on display through every aspect of our lives, including our work. While it can be easy to be drawn to places that are already well-salted, we need Christians to see and be present in the pain points of our vocations, industries, and cities and point our neighbors toward the healing balm of Christ. We must help each other live into our already-not-yet identity so that the world may behold his beauty, be drawn into his family, and join his restorative work.
// About the Author: Teena Dare is the director for Surge’s Faith, Work, & Rest Initiative and hosts a podcast designed to encourage people to envision how to steward their vocation for the kingdom of God. You can check it out at surgenetwork.com/fwr-podcast
