Friday, July 06, 2012

"No Byproducts" - a healthy label?

Preamble: After the community playtime with the children, my wife stopped by her parents' home to get a few things and phoned to let me know they would home in a few minutes. She also asked me to get the hot dogs out of the freezer and start them cooking, and I agreed. As I opened the package to put them into the soon-to-be boiling water, I noticed the label "no byproducts." I think for hot dogs, this is supposed to be an indicator of their healthiness. But as I got to thinking, I hope the same could not be said of my life and ministry.

My definition of the word "byproduct" would be: a beneficial and unintended outcome of an endeavor." The end of a school year is a good time to reflect upon this question: were there any byproducts from your life? The stated goal was to educate students in a given subject(s), yet more than just academic learning, there are also various other outcomes, some intended (socialization, team work skills, Christian worldview, etc) and yet others that "just happen"; things that are byproducts that a teacher could not have planned or expected. One of the many reasons I count it a privilege to be involved in Christian Education is because we are explicit  and intentional about the various outcomes we hope to achieve: cognitively, socially, and spiritually. Most other educational institutions only state the academic outcomes when the other outcomes are always taught.

If there are no byproducts from my day - never mind my month or year - I am disappointed. Perhaps there are some days where there are no visible byproducts. I'm beginning to realize more and more as a parent that pretty much everything (eg. facial look, word, action, non-action) communicates a message. Whether it is consistent from one hour to the next is the question, and that (in)consistency has another byproduct for the child. Not just in parenting, but in so many areas of life, there are so many byproducts, many of which we may never know about.

I believe the Scripture speaks clearly to the fact that our life will always be a witness, whether it is for Christ or against Christ. It seems to me that while the label "no byproduct" might be good on hot dogs, it certainly should not apply to the follower of Jesus (Matthew 7:16-20; Luke 6:43-45; James 2:14-18).

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