I have always held the conviction that Christian faith is relevant to all areas of life. Christ has the power to transform everything in our business practices, our leisure and the way we communicate. One Christian who has made a profound impact on me in this area is Miroslav Volf.

What Volf contends is that while Christian faith is personal, it is never private. We are all called to contribute our gifts for the good of society. Volf makes clear that the main thing Christian faith brings to the “public square” is a vision of human flourishing and the common good.

What God has done in Jesus is for the love of all of creation. Therefore to follow Jesus is to show love to everyone and work for the common good of all of humanity. This is what Jesus calls “a full life” (John 10:10).

Living out the Christian faith means imitating Christ. To paraphrase what St Paul says in Philippians 2, Jesus gave away all but love, making himself a servant.

We are called to show the same servant leadership. We can be confident in knowing it is God who is at work in us, enabling us both to will and to work for his good pleasure so that we will shine like stars in our culture (Phil 2:13, 15). The invitation to live out our faith in the public eye is open to every Christian.

Jesus said to his disciples—who were outcasts in their culture—“You are the light of the world” (Matt 5:14). He encouraged them to so shine their light that others would see their good works and praise God.  And of course, that is exactly what the disciples did, and it shook the Roman Empire to its very foundations.

This is the impact we can have when we display, to quote Martin Luther King, “a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love”.  My prayer is that the Spirit of God will give us the strength and courage to imitate Christ in demonstrating his love to a broken world.

Join Miroslav Volf, Tim Costello and other speakers at the conference Re:thinking—A Public Faith in Sydney on March 18–20.