"I just wanted to see if you would"

The story is told of a Christian employee who was approached by a fellow employee, asking him if he wanted to put a dollar in a football pot that was to be played on the weekend.

The Christian employee declined the offer, but the fellow employee told him, "Hey, it's only a dollar." The Christian employee replied that he didn't have a dollar in his billfold. The fellow employee told him, "Well, I'll put your name down and you can give me a dollar later on." To which the Christian employee replied, "No, I'm afraid I don't care to gamble."

Imagine the surprise of the Christian employee when his fellow employee answered, "I knew that — I just wanted to see if you would."

That Christian employee's influence was on the line, although he didn't really realize it until after the incident was over with several days later.

Whether we work at a plant, in a grocery store, on a construction site, teach school, or any other honest work, our influence as a Christian is on the line every day. Whether in their conscious or subconscious mind, our fellow employees have a mental picture of us. That mental picture should include the following:

• Our speech is pure — no smutty stories, no cursing, and no lying (Ephesians 4:29 – NKJV; cf. Colossians 3:8 – NKJV)
• We are honest in our dealings with others (Romans 12:17 – NKJV; 2 Corinthians 8:21 – NKJV; Philippians 4:8 – NKJV; 1 Peter 2:11-12 – NKJV).
• We don't carry things out of our workplace that belong to the company we work for (Ephesians 4:28 – NKJV).
• We work an honest day's labor for a day's pay (Matthew 20:1-16 – NKJV).
• We are pure in heart — there is no flirting with the opposite sex (Matthew 5:8 – NKJV; Hebrews 12:14 – NKJV).
• Our Christianity is real in that we don't go to the men's club on Saturday night, get tipsy on alcoholic beverages, and then present ourselves as a Christian on Sunday.

Brethren, the world observes and knows whether we are genuine in our Christian walk (Philippians 1:27 – NKJV; 1 Timothy 4:12 – NKJV; 1 Peter 1:15 – NKJV; 1 Peter 2:11-12 – NKJV; 1 Peter 3:1-2 – NKJV; James 3:13 – NKJV), or merely observing some convenient "form" of Christianity (1 Timothy 4:1-7 – NKJV; 2 Timothy 3:7 – NKJV).