"Can I put my hand on your arm?" My gorgeous twenty-five-year-old coworker's eyes glittered with joy as she smiled up at me.
"Sure," I said, and we took a photo together at our company's annual dinner.
I was in a custom-tailored cashmere suit, in one of the most expensive hotels in the city, surrounded by beautiful women. A banquet that would have cost thousands of dollars in the U.S. was offered to me on the company tab. And I was an English teacher in a country where native English speakers were treated like "gods."
Wealth. Attraction. Status. And...
"All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."*
That was the deal I made for the prestige I got as an English as a Second Language teacher for the most well-known company in that nation. A deal with the devil.
Contrary to popular belief, Satan actually does honor his promises sometimes. But his promises are half-truths; he doesn't tell you what you are really sacrificing or what you are really getting. He did not tell me I would be forced out of that same company for my faith. He did not tell me that those beautiful women really wanted me because they considered me a free version of Rosetta Stone or an opportunity to satisfy their "jungle fever" when their fiancees/husbands were traveling. And he did not tell me how miserable the side effect of the city's wealth - air pollution - would make me for my entire tenure there. He also did not tell me what I would be sacrificing: time. Time needed to preach the gospel. Time that, as a man approaching his mid-thirties, I no longer have much of.
Recently, I was tempted to continue to pursue English as a Second Language in a secular capacity. It's a noble field, but I was pursuing it for the wrong reasons. Wealth. Attraction. Status. So now I make it a point only to teach English for Christian organizations. That way, I can use my skills for Jesus Christ, and not just to build my own kingdom, which will go up in smoke as soon as I die. Billions of people need to hear the gospel so that they can be saved from the Lake of Fire, and I don't have much time left. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
*Quote from Matthew 4:9 (ESV)
