Every Friday I join a community of bloggers for Five Minute Friday. One word prompt, five minutes. Unedited. The prompt this week is … Represent.
Looking the word up in the dictionary brings some interesting definitions: “to serve to express as a symbol; to stand or act in the place of; to speak and act for by a delegated authority” (dictionary.com).
Having spent time reading in both Romans and Ephesians lately, we are “called as saints” (Romans 1:7 and Ephesians 1:1).
I probably spent more than my five minutes sitting and pondering what this should look like to those around us. In other words, do our lives represent Jesus?
We have been sent out into this world to represent Jesus:
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:19-20, NASB)
In many ways, our lives should represent Him, His principles, and His words. Jesus Himself tells us we will be known by our fruit.
So what fruit should be on display in our lives so that we accurately represent Him?
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23, NASB)
May our lives be fruitful,
and rightly represent Jesus
in all we say and do.
Today I may be joining …
Thinking myself as a saint,
yeah, that really makes me laugh,
for it’s describing what I ain’t
(but do you want my autograph?).
There are saints in modern days
(Father Kolbe sure is one),
worthy of the highest praise,
but I am very sure that none
of them were quite as coarse as I,
joking on the profound stuff,
letting whoops and catcalls fly
’till even Barb yells, “That’s ENOUGH!”,
and you’ve got to bet halo would be
used in playing Dog Frisbee.
<3
I join you in prayer, Joanne, “May our lives represent Him, His principles, and His words.” ~Lisa, FMF #2
I am so humbled by the responsibility to represent God in this wayward culture! It’s much more common that we allow the culture to leak into our hearts.
I often spend a L-O-N-G time pondering the prompt before I ever put “pen to paper” and write my FMF post for the week. It may be Saturday afternoon before I am ready to write. I trust God for the timing and the words.
I guess you could say that the aim of each FMF post is to REPRESENT God well.
FMF 12 this week
very true, Barb. I’d not thought of it in those words.
We really are sent into this world to represent Jesus – my prayer is that we all do it well
Just stopped by from FMF #16
Good reminders here, Joanne, to think seriously about who we represent in our thoughts, words, and actions.
Joanne, thank you for this cause for pause, to consider who and what I represent, how to do that well, and to understand the motivations behind it all.
May it only be Christ-honoring. And that will only happen by His grace.
Weekend blessings to you, friend …
that is the crux isn’t it? How are we using our gifts to showcase the one that we claim to love and serve. visiting from fmf20
Was a great word to make us think about ourselves, behaviors, the way the world sees us isn’t it? FMF friend #21
This is such a critical element of our witness. If we are to represent Jesus, how are we revealing him to others? Thanks for this moment of self-reflection, Joanne!
‘May our lives be fruitful, and rightly represent Jesus in all we say and do.’
This is a great challenge and reminder, thank you Joanne. I’m so aware that it’s often the doing that doesn’t match what we say. That’s the challenge for me.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Thank you Joanne. I was blessed reading your post.