Exhortation

Matt. 28:18 Rev. 5:10

Roger has worked at Empire Steel now for 11 years. He can’t believe how time has flown by. Everyone at work knows that he is a Christian. They know because he doesn’t drop the f-bombs, and he at least tries not to look at those……. Pictures…… that his co-workers hang in conspicuous places where the eyes naturally fall…….. He doesn’t remember exactly how it came to be that he eats lunch by himself. But he’s glad to have it that way. “Those obnoxious brutes, always joking about dirty stuff ((and I assure you, it is dirty)) and trading gross jokes that aren’t even funny.”
He doesn’t realize that they esp. bring up the muck when he’s around because they know it will annoy him, and because, frankly, they don’t really know him. Roger hasn’t even tried. Roger ostracizes himself from them. “Man, I’m glad I’m not dumb like that, ” Roger muttered as he went by with a contemptuously look……..
The truth is, he doesn’t like ‘em. In fact, he despises them. He hates their attitude, speech, work-habits and everything. He hates them really. “Being surrounded by all that filth depresses me and doesn’t help me to do all the duties I need to do as a Christian…”
So, Roger has carved for himself a little niche at Empire Steel. It’s a niche that you could call isolation. He’s a minority in the factory as far as Christians go, but the problem is, he has let that minority status go to his head…Roger feels guilty about not evangelizing sometimes. “Yeah, I know I should drop some tracts off at their table. I know I should have the courage to come up to those guys and rebuke their sin and lifestyle. They wouldn’t listen though.” So he eats alone, doesn’t pursue them. He chooses not to get himself messy with those sinners, and pursue them as friends. Roger likes it that way, it gives him peace to sit in his office listening to Christian music and not being worldly with “those guys.” “Christians are just a’passin through, he reminded himself. This world is not my home.

Well…..The dirty boys in the corner, “those guys,” think Roger is stuck up. They talk about him because he’s weird, and doesn’t do anything fun. “Man, said one guy, he don’t look like he don’t have no fun anyway…… He can care less about the people who work here, he just keeps to himself. Look at him, over there praying for like 10 min’s…. Man, he does that to make us look bad…."

Roger read his Bible during lunch that day, this is a portion of what he read: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” But he didn’t make the connection to his work. He felt defeated and complained in his heart. “I wish I was in ministry” he said out loud…