Part-Timers

Organizations of all types have flocked to part time employees. As a manager, they offer flexibility and lower cost, in part because they don’t typically get benefits. It works well for the part time employee too. Less duty hours and more freedom to do other things.

A ton of Christians have become part time Christ-followers. They get the flexibility of choosing which parts of the Bible they’ll accept as true. To pick the parts of God’s moral will they’ll submit to. And they get less duty hours too…Sunday services once a week, reciting a little blessing before meals, and an occasional conversation about God where they have may have to give intellectual assent to their Christian faith.

But you can’t build a company exclusively with part time employees. There’s the ‘core’ of the company that’s all in. Full time. At Home Depot, they ‘bleed orange’. At Target, they ‘bleed red’, but with bulls eyes. These full timers keep things going. If it weren’t for them, the part timers wouldn’t know what to do.

And God won’t build His kingdom with part time Christians. Just like we call out to Him in emergencies at random times, He calls on us to be “light” at random times. Those ‘moments of truth’ happen when life requires an answer and we have to come up with one. If it’s a private moment, our true heart gets revealed. If we’re full time, we feel His presence. If we’re part time, we’re unsure. If other people are around, that ‘moment of truth’ is our witness. It’s God giving us the opportunity to show His true heart to those who are watching (and there’s always somebody watching!) It’s our chance to be unashamed of Him. To declare our dependence or humbly deflect the credit.

I once heard a really sharp young executive give a talk about part timers. He used the metaphor of a sentry guarding the back gate of a castle. “The worst thing is to have a part time sentry” he said. “If I have a full time guard, I feel safe. I can relax. If I have no sentry, I’m on alert. The worst-case scenario is when I don’t know what I have. That’s when I’m at risk.”

I’m afraid God has lots of part time sentries looking out for His Kingdom. And worse, a ton of them have become undercover agents. They’re out there invisible and alone with no one to help them or hold them accountable through connectedness.

For centuries, the church has been sustained by full timers, both ministers and lay people. Whether its church or marketplace ministry or campus ministry or ministry to the least of these, God has no feet or hands without full timers. The Good News is back page news if it’s delivered by a part timer. Without the moral authority of a life lived for Him and through Him, it’s just words.

Question: Are you a part time or full time Christ-follower? What keeps you from going ‘all in’? Tell us here.