Up until recently, I went to great lengths to separate my personal life and my professional life. My personal life is built on my Christian faith and my professional life focused on everything but that and whatever else that *I thought* didn’t belong or was appreciated amongst professionals.
What did this separation look like?
Online, it meant that I had websites and social media accounts dedicated to my personal life and the same was true for my professional life. The two rarely if at all ever crossed paths. Offline (the real world), it meant that when I was amongst other Christians (in church and other gatherings), I was free to be the Christian that I am (for the most part) but when I was around other people (especially in professional settings like work, conferences etc) who I thought were secular/anti-religion/anti-Christian, I had to watch what I said and how I conducted myself, for fear of offending them or being found offensive because of my faith and its influence on every aspect of who I am.
Why did I do this?
I was afraid that those in the professional world, folks who might be secular/anti-religion/anti-Christian, would not like the fact that I was a Christian and therefore, would be indifferent towards me, refusing to connect/network with me or worse, decide against working with me or doing business with Mustard Seed IT. I know there’s truth to this because I have experienced this sort of isolation/rejection in the past few years.
The Turmoil
I lamented this double life because it’s not who I am or what God challenges me to be. In the Bible, Jesus addresses this internal struggle I was having.
Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10:32-33 (NASB)
You see, by ignoring or hiding the fact that I was a follower of Jesus from those who I thought wouldn’t like it or be offended by it, I knew that in a way, I was denying Jesus before them. I could write an entire post on this verse alone and I just might do that (in the future) for the benefit of those who may not totally understand where I am coming from but the fact of the matter is, if I truly believe in Jesus, that He is God, my personal Saviour and LORD, then I would not be afraid or ashamed of that fact, no matter what it cost me!
The Liberation
I had to make a decision. Either I would be true to Jesus and stop living this miserable double life OR continue to appease people for fear of missing out on relationships that could benefit me professionally and help my business.
I decided, just as God challenges me in the Bible to do, that it was more important for me to please God than people. It took a few weeks but *I think* I have managed to consolidate all my websites and social media accounts. Now, everything I write about on every topic, will be on this website. As for my social media presence, you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram, all under srikanthanair. It feels good to be myself and not have to invest all that time and energy in a double life. Am I scared? A little. I know that not many will appreciate it but that’s just the way it’s going to be. I won’t hate or get angry at those who will treat me with indifference because of the way I choose to be. I am open to respectful and mature discussions and dialogue (not fueled by anger or hate and not littered with cursing and foul language) with anyone who has a worldview different from my own and whose faith, values and beliefs differ from my own.
I look forward to building relationships, not only with those who are likeminded but also with those who are nothing like me. To that end, I invite you to connect with me.
Thanks for reading and God bless you.
Thank Sri 🙂