Conduct

Paul is giving his followers advice on how to conduct themselves and find life in Christ. He is saying no matter what happens to us there is a way to respond, and our responses are being watched. How we react or don’t react matters. How we conduct ourselves on the outside of the church wall Monday-Friday does matter. There are no departments for our conduct. It is all the same compartment. No matter what happens our conduct should be worthy of the gospel of Christ. 

Usually the way we act has already been decided because of the condition of our heart. Our heart has already determined how we will respond to the situations of life. When we know Christ His Spirit lives within us, and out of His Spirit we respond back to the world we live in. How we respond goes beyond how we feel moment by moment, but our conduct is determined by our relationship with Christ. We now areidentified with Him, and we in no way want to do anything that would not be worthy of the gospel of Christ. We follow not out of law but out of our heart that has been made new by the gospel. 

There are moments of temptation when the desire comes to respond in our flesh. Most of these moments come at stressful timesor times of persecution. Those are the moments ourflesh screams out to be defended. Often those moments have little to do with conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel. When we know who we are in Christ our conduct follows out of our new identity and relationship. Who we act in the world is a matter of who is conducting our heart. When the Spirit of God has our heart, we can find that His response to the world flows out of us. 

Today in the workplace:

Praise God for giving us a way to conduct ourselves to the world.