Who You Are Is What You Do

My friend Michael R. Jones got me hooked on a television show called, Justified. It's the story a US Marshal in Eastern Kentucky. In a recent episode that I enjoyed one of he characters kept saying, "Hey man, who we are makes us do what we do."

Have you ever thought about that?

Growing up our family owned a car dealership. When I went to work there I was told, "Your name is on the building, this means you work twice as hard for half the money." I also noticed that when my Grandfather arrived to the dealership, he usually walked through the doors with a handful of litter and would then progress around the building watering plants. He took care of the little things, because his name was on the building. Even after I stopped working there I would almost always enter the building with trash in my hands to throw away, because my name was on the building.

Who you are determines what you do.

Peter talks about this in one of the letters he wrote,

But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. 1 Peter 2:9,10 MSG

Peter clarifies our identity: chosen ones, holy people, God's instruments. As a result of that identity we have a job: to do God's work and to tell others about what he has done.

Who we are determines what we do.

If one is a follower of Jesus, then they will be telling the story of all that God has done for them. It's what they do, because it's who they are and it is His name on the building.  So it is not about bringing someone to a worship gathering. It's not about introducing them to a pastor. It's simply about sharing our stories and proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus.

It's who we are, so it's what we do.