Jesse Koepke

Part of my morning routine at work is to read a small passage from Patrick Morley’s book, A Man’s Guide to Work. Jared, my brother-in-law, gave it to me over Christmas, and while I’m not very far into it, the book has had some really interesting thoughts about how we should approach the work place.

I read a sentence today that really stuck out to me, so I’m processing what it means.

It is not our assignment to create a Christian business culture. Our assignment is to represent God within the work culture—to bring salt and light into the workplace.”

It is so easy for Christians to think we need to create our own version of things. We have Christian fiction, or Christian movies, or Christian music. Each of those areas have their sets of rules about what is acceptable or not, and rarely does something break into the mainstream culture. In fact, we often absorb the mainstream and make our own version of it.

Is this what Jesus was thinking of when he prayed to the Father, “As You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (Jn. 17:18)? Paul didn’t change the gospel or who Jesus was, but he still became all things to all people.

What if we approached our work not with the mindset of changing it, but of representing God and all his virtues? How could we not just create our own movie industry, but instead be in mainstream movies and be an example of Christ’s character, mercy, grace, righteousness, and love?

It’s not an easy question to answer. Maybe that’s why we go to the simple version of just being outside of it. Rather than wrestle with the intricacies and paradoxes of being “in the world but not of it”, we come up with rules and molds that everything has to follow. But it’s a worthy wrestle.

J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, was one such example, I feel. He was a devout believer, and “our Lord” was a frequent subject of conversation when people visited his home. It isn’t obvious that he was a believer by reading The Lord of the Rings, but his writing puts on display the values of the Kingdom of God.

I don’t know how to walk out this idea, but I feel compelled to search out how.