They Call Me Batman

I work at Starbucks, and for real they call me, “Batman” and “Mattman.”  The best part is that I’ve never even told anyone to do that.  They just know what’s up ;-)  We actually had a new hire come on and joke that he was Batman, and everyone immediately corrected him, “No dude, Matt is Batman.  Get that right.”  I thought it was hilarious (and amazing, and appropriate).

I was telling this to a friend, saying how proud I was that everyone at work calls me Batman and I’ve never even told anyone to do that.  But I wondered why.  If I’ve never told anyone to do that, how do people know that I love being called “Batman” (this has happened at two different places I work at)?  My friend responded like it was obvious: “Matt, you just ooze Batman.  It’s like it just comes out of you.”

SECRET IDENTITY

I thought his response was kind of funny, and to him it was pretty obvious.  But it had me thinking.  What if this is what people felt about me when it comes to Jesus?  Not that they should be calling me “Jesus” all the time, that’s not quite what I mean.  But I thought about my friend’s quote.  What if I just “oozed” Jesus?  So much so that I don’t really have to talk about Jesus, Christianity, or my faith; what God's love just naturally flowed out of me?

The thing is this is exactly the goal.  You may have heard it said, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”  This quote perfectly describes what I’m talking about with Batman.  What if the way we lived our life, in the every day circumstances, with people we work with, with the way we handle everyday situations that could easily frustrate us…what if we handled them in a way that “oozed” Jesus?  That without explicitly bringing him up, it’s so obvious to other people that we love Jesus?

IT’S NOT WHO I AM UNDERNEATH, IT’S WHAT I DO THAT DEFINES ME

But it shouldn’t end there.  Lately my prayer has been that it wouldn’t just end with “planting a seed” or simply being a “good person” at work.  Instead of just silently being nice, I want to talk about Jesus!  I want to see people come to know God!  It doesn’t matter how nice I am at work; if people aren’t experiencing life-change by embracing Jesus, it’s all for nothing.

“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

–Jesus (John 13:35)

I don’t want to be someone who keeps my faith to myself.  I don’t want to live my life, knowing I followed the rules and was a “good Christian.”

I want to be someone who brought people to Jesus.  I want to be someone who shows people how to follow Jesus.  I want to be someone who is used by God to make a difference in the world!

“It doesn’t matter who I am underneath; it’s what I do that defines me.”

This is one of my favorite quotes from Batman Begins.  And this has become my prayer.  God, help me not to settle on being silent.  God, give me the courage (and tactfulness) to talk about you at work!  God, give me your words.  God, I pray that you would USE me to bring about life-change in the people that I work with!  Don’t let my life go by with me settling for “good enough”; let me LIVE OUT the life you have for me!