If we are God’s representatives in creation, shouldn’t that change how we walk through our days? This new paradigm doesn’t just affect our inward spiritual life, but changes all of our daily activities—our grocery shopping, coffee buying, business doing, and diaper changing. The reality is two-fold: you are representing God and you’re constantly interacting with God’s representatives.

Those people standing in front of you in line, employees who work for you, or those kids you just made breakfast for are God’s purposeful creation and our conduct towards them should reflect that weighty reality. Here’s a reminder of the three places you’ll likely find yourself representing God and interacting with his representatives today:

1 // Home

Your purpose doesn’t begin after you’ve walked out the door; it starts the moment you open your eyes in the morning. Often, we’re the least holy at home since we’re the most comfortable with our families; our patience levels drop, the reign on our tongue loosens, and we expect those closest to us to give us the most grace.

But what if today you decided you’d purposefully represent God in your home? Would you speak to your spouse or your children with the same tone? Would you scoff at your parents’ request of you? If we want those we love to know and believe in this gracious and patient God we follow, the best testament to his actuality will be our likeness to him.

2 // Work

Your job at work isn’t to just earn a paycheck; your purpose is to represent God in your work and your workplace. Many of us spend as much time each day with our co-workers as we do our families. You weren’t paired with them by coincidence either. You have an opportunity and an obligation today to represent God’s goodness and care in your workplace.

How would you react differently to being interrupted today if you remembered you were representing God? How might that change your business decisions or the meeting agenda this afternoon? Especially if you own a business or act as a supervisor, in what way can you honor God’s likeness in your employees, making sure they’re treated as humans and not means of productivity?

3 // Around Town

It’s inevitable that you’ll interact with someone outside of home and work today—even if it’s just in traffic. Most of these people will be strangers, which makes the temptation to reject our purpose even greater. In Matthew 5:21-30, Jesus raised the bar for our treatment of our brothers and sisters, asking us to examine our inward attitudes in addition to our outward behavior towards them. We might resist the urge to yell at someone who takes our parking space, but what about the anger we feel?

It’s hard to be rude to the slow cashier in the checkout line or the barista who messed up your coffee order when you remember they’re standing before you as representatives of the King. Many of the people we interact with in service jobs—the postal worker, the waiter, the teacher, or the hairdresser—feel overlooked and undervalued. It will stand out to when someone takes the time to treat him or her with worth.

Wherever you find yourself today, remember that your identity is first and foremost as a representative of God to everyone and everything around you.