Have you ever thought about how every single person you serve in each and every situation you live out actually represents the Lord? Think about that. Every person you speak to today REPRESENTS Christ. How well you serve them, how you treat them, what you say behind their backs or thoughts you think in your mind – each person you will interact with represents the Most High God.
Colossians 3 describes this thought in a big way:
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. –Colossians 3:23-24
This thought should transform how we live each day of our lives. When you serve people in the name of Jesus, the people you are serving become representatives of Christ Himself. Even if they don’t know Christ, love Christ, or care about Christ, Scripture says they represent Him in your service to them. If they mistreat you, don’t acknowledge you, or make fun of you – realize that you’re not doing it for them; you’re serving Jesus through the way you serve them.
This is freeing. This is empowering and personal. Every conversation, every anonymous thing you do for someone, and every interaction is a way to lift up the name of Jesus. If you clean up your dorm room when it was actually your roommate who trashed it, just for him to come back and trash it again, you did it to honor the Lord, not for a pat on the back from your roommate. If you work your tail off on a project just for someone else to take the credit, you did it for the Lord, not for accolade.
Those around you represent Jesus Christ and it is simply enough to do it for Him with no earthly reward. Your motivation and encouragement doesn’t need to come from people, but solely from the King whose in charge of this Kingdom.
Don’t put your standard of serving in the hands of those you serve. Don’t let the opinions of people reflect how well you serve them. This is powerful so don’t miss it – every person you interact with today will represent the Lord. Serve them as you would serve the King because in full reality, the way you serve them is actually the way you’re serving the Lord. You’re investing in Him and there is no longer a need for you to live with jealousy, discouragement, or resentment. Your investment and service to Christ will never return void, so set it in your heart today – “I’m going to treat every people I interact with as if it were You, Lord!”
