what’s more important: work & school or reading the Bible & time with GOD?

here is my thought flow process to answer the following question in preparation for SUMMER YOUth Church. it's not meant to be a complete essay, nor was it presented word-for-word, but rather as a tool that i used in my prep time.

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what’s more important:
work and school or reading the Bible and time with GOD?


My response:
love and marriage, love and marriage
goes together like a horse and carriage
this, I tell you, brother
you can’t have one without the other!


Like so many things in the Christian Life, the answer is “both”.

our purpose on this earth is to be “Christ’s Ambassadors”.
An Ambassador is “the highest-ranking diplomat that represents their country”.
We are the highest-ranking/equally important people to represent Jesus’ Kingdom to our slice of the world!

Look at this Scripture- it’s such GOOD NEWS!!!:

[2 Cor 5:17-21]
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If we are to be Christ’s Ambassadors as “missionaries” or representatives to our culture and the UNchurched, then work and school are super important… because that’s where the people that need Jesus’ redemption/reconciliation/new creation-ism are at!

If what Jesus says is true [and it is!] WE are the SALT and LIGHT of the world. we need to be placed in such a way that the warmth of the light and the flavor of salt is able to touch and warm and affect and guide all those in our life! [matt 5:13-16]

So if we “fled” from our mission field into our little church-groups and church-cliques and holy huddles and strayed away from non-christians at places like work and school, then we are abandoning them to their destruction!

REFLECTIVE QUESTION: At your work and school [or sports teams, 4H club, dance class, etc.] do you have relationships with NON-CHRISTIANS?




But here’s the catch- this is where the “both” comes in: it’s through time spent with Jesus in the Bible and Prayer that OUR HEARTS ARE CHANGED, so that we can actually be ministers of reconciliation and Christ’s ambassadors! It’s there that we are reminded that we are a new creation, and Jesus’ mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and redemption hold power to transform others into a new creation as well! We need to remember what Christ has done in our life, so that we can help reveal what Christ can be doing in other’s lives!

When we read Scripture and the Stories of Jesus [the one we are to be representing!], there is an overwhelming thread that points every single thing back to Jesus’ life, the cross of sacrifice and the resurrection power. It’s through reading scripture that we are humbled by our sin and reminded of GOD’s great love for us, poured out continually, making us new. This also gives us permission to live open, authentic and transparent lives!

People aren’t won to Jesus because of how “holy” and “sinless” we are, they are won to Jesus when we are able to reveal GOD’s love in our imperfect lives and struggles and reveal that HE who knew no sin has become sin on our behalf so that we might become the Righteousness of GOD. That HE has reconciled the world to the Father and that we are now NEW CREATIONS! The old has gone away!

So my encouragement to you is to spend some time reflecting on the things that the LORD has saved you from. In what ways has he made you a New Creation in Christ? And then celebrate those things in thanksgiving to Him!

Don’t use your new creation-ism and your “incredible holiness” to define yourself and negatively judge and condemn others, but instead take that joy, that ministry of reconciliation to your work and school and live your redeemed life as salt and light bringing flavor and warmth and guidance to all those in your circles of influence.



Both are important. You can’t be “effective” at work and school without spending time with Jesus through the Bible and Prayer… so make a commitment to do it more often! After all, that’s the way we learn about the very person we are to be Ambassadors for!