Full Time Christians

Today’s post has been written by Camden Nunnery, a homeschool grad who is currently serving with us here at Teach Them Diligently and is preparing to embark on a 3 month ministry trip, serving communities and churches through 3-on-3 basketball outreaches. 

Many of us fall into the mindset that we cannot be used by God, and because of this mindset it may be hard to see the opportunities God has given us.

You have probably heard the term “full- time Christian ministry” before. That term usually refers to being paid to be a pastor or a missionary as your full-time job. However, scripture tells us that everyone who is a Bible-believing Christian is called to Full-Time Christian ministry and by that I don’t mean that we all need to go around asking churches to sponsor us (though God will call some to do that.) God has called us all to live our lives in a way that would show others that we are His. “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Mathew 5:14-16). God does not want us to live “normal” lives and be a Christian sometimes. We are to be a light unto all we encounter.

We are also told by God, Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) , God says that no matter what we are doing we should be doing it to the glory of God. That means we should be using all of our opportunities and resources for God’s glory. This verse doesn’t say “Only when you are at church do things to the glory of God” or “when you are with your Christian friends do things to the glory of God”; it says whether you are eating or drinking or whatever you are doing do it to the glory of God. According to this verse we should be using our jobs, our friend groups, our classes, our shopping, our random trips to coffee shops, our vacations, our Netflix watching, and our sleep schedules to glorify God. If we are not 100% convinced it glorifies God then we should not do it. My whole life I have thought that there are grey areas in what we should and should not do. I do not believe God sees it this way.

If we are living this way then no matter where we are or what we are doing, we must be living for God. That seems to be a form of full-time Christian ministry. If God has put you in McDonalds flipping burgers then you better be doing it to God’s glory and being a light to those around you. God will use all of us no matter what situation we are in if we give our lives to him. During missions conference at Bob Jones University this year the theme was “Lose your Life-Find Your Calling”, I think this sums up how a Christian’s life should be. God has called us to be radical followers of him, but to see what God has for you, you will need to lose your life.

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This applies very well to being a tentmaker like Paul was (as seen in Acts 18). God has given us all gigantic mission fields. Anyone who has a job can be a missionary to their coworkers. Being a Christian is not something that gets put on hold when you are at work. No matter the job we can make contacts through work that can lead to sharing God’s Word. God puts us where we are for a reason. No matter what we are doing we should be looking for the opportunities God gives us to fulfill the great commission as it is a command to all of us, not just the missionaries and pastors. If your coworkers are followers of Christ then don’t think that you’re in the clear either. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”. God doesn’t want our ministry to stop just because those around us are Christians. We need to be encouraging one another and challenging each other to grow. It is so easy as Christians just to go into auto-pilot.  If we have our fellow believers challenging us to stay in the Word, however, it becomes very difficult to coast through our Christian walk. All of us are called to full-time Christian ministry, no matter our age or occupation.  We need to be willing to lose our life for the gospel. No matter your platform, how big or how small, use it to proclaim Christ.