There’s a really important word in this verse, “whatever.” It doesn’t say some of the things you do or say or most of the things you do or say. It says “whatever.” The last few years that I taught high school, this was a popular word for the teens to say when you asked them to do something they didn’t like and they knew that they were going to end up having to do it anyway. Their tongue-in-cheek response was always, “Whatever.” What they were really meaning was “not if I can help it.” But the “whatever in this verse means everything that you can possibly think of doing or saying, remember that you are doing it as a representative of Jesus Christ. That means our attitude has to be right so that our actions will follow. As I go into town today to help out my sister, this verse is perfect for me. I usually get along with my sister, but we are like oil and water. I am a Christian and she is a self-proclaimed agnostic. I have three children, she has one and she only acknowledges one of mine. (Because he is very liberal just as she is.) I’m a Bible—believing conservative and she is not. You get the idea. But I’m going to help her and I’m determined to do my best to fulfill that job, doing it as a service to the Lord, as if I am His hands reaching out to Her. I pray that my words will be words of life and encouragement, just as His would.

May your day be blessed with opportunities to show Jesus to the world around you and may you shine forth His light as a good representative of our Lord!