Poor Ben! He went to work one night at a Waffle House in Birmingham, Alabama, and he was the only employee who showed up. The restaurant was packed with thirty customers, and Ben tried his best to cook, serve, bus, clean, take orders, run the register, and wash dishes. Finally, it overwhelmed him. That’s when a customer got up, went behind the counter, put on an apron, and started washing dishes. Another customer began making and serving coffee. Other patrons soon pitched in, and a spirit of community erupted throughout the restaurant. One of the customers asked Ben why he didn’t jump ship when he found himself stranded. He replied, “It’s not the right thing to do.”¹

Somehow that scene reminds me of the Church. As followers of Christ, we should always do the right thing, and we should do it together with a sense of community, serving and meeting the needs of others. In these uncertain times, a frightened world is looking for those who will always do the right thing and will do it with enduring commitment.

Jesus, Daniel, and a host of biblical heroes provide the models we need for conducting ourselves like that. But what comprises conduct?

Godly conduct starts with our demeanor. I’m referring to the calmness, graciousness, and carriage with which we carry ourselves and interact with others. People pick up on our demeanor even before they hear our words or see our deeds.

When a movie about Fred Rogers came out, the word “demeanor” was thrown around quite a bit by movie reviewers. Some were struck by Mr. Rogers “calm demeanor,” others by his “approachable demeanor.” Tom Hanks, who portrayed him, said he struggled to emulate Rogers’ quiet demeanor, for it didn’t come naturally to the actor. “I’m trying to learn from him,” said Hanks.

You and I are trying to learn the same thing from an even greater model—the Lord Jesus. I’m struck with how Jesus moved through crowds and was never caught off balance, fazed, or flustered. When the furious inhabitants of Nazareth tried to throw Him off a cliff, the Bible says, “Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way” (Luke 4:30).

Another aspect of conduct is our attitude. Beneath the outer appearance of demeanor are the inner wellsprings of attitude. Entrepreneur magazine asked a number of executives and CEOs how they handle employees with bad attitudes. Jason Griffin Reidel, the cofounder of a jewelry company, said, “You replace them. Early on, admittedly, we tolerated productive employees who had bad attitudes, partly because the productivity was necessary to grow…. But now we have zero tolerance. Productivity with a bad attitude is arguably worse than nonproductivity.”²

How long would we last as God’s employee if He applied that rule to us! The Bible says, “Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people…. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 6:7, CSB; Philippians 2:5, CSB).

Conduct also involves the words we speak. None of us score as well here as we’d like, but there is a way to become wiser with our words. Whenever you’ve had a conversation that has left you frustrated or uneasy, take a few minutes to recall the words you spoke. Think about how you could have expressed yourself better. Confess any failures to the Lord and ask for His wisdom. Ask Him to show you what you should have said and how you should have said it.

If you practice this long enough, you’ll increasingly speak more as Jesus would. Proverbs 15:28 says, “The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.”

And then, of course, there are our deeds and non-deeds. When our demeanor, our attitudes, and our words are governed by the Holy Spirit, our actions will be the crowning touch. People will see our deeds of kindness and works of love, and they’ll know these actions are not hypocritical. They flow from authentic followers of Christ who are determined to convey the Father’s message with enduring commitment to a world facing uncertain times.

The Bible sums it up best of all when it says, “Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27).

¹Allison Klein, “The Lone Employee at an Alabama Waffle House Was Swamped, So Customers Jumped Behind the Counter to Help,” The Washington Post, November 11, 2019.

²“How to Handle Star Employees With Bad Attitudes,” Entrepreneur, December 2, 2019, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/341804.