As you step into my Salix office, you will see a beautifully written Bible verse prominently displayed on the wall. On our website, you may see words such as “faith” and other terms that could be understood as spiritual. In fact, if you spend enough time around me, you may hear me say that I am a Christian and that we are a Christian law firm.

I deeply struggle with making those statements as I continue in my legal and professional career. Not because I fundamentally disagree with them, but because I worry about how they may appear to others and what assumptions a third party may make about who I am or what agenda I may be pursuing.

I could probably write extensively about these concerns and analyze them until I am completely paralyzed by the overwhelming number of arguments and perspectives that exist. However, I will limit this discussion to one concern, which, in my lowly opinion, is the greatest: that people may view God and His Word as commodities to be used and consumed for my personal glory, financial gain, or pleasure as I see fit.

God is not a commodity. He is not the newest iPad, video game, movie, or any other consumer good to be packaged, marketed, and used for personal advantage. He is holy. In fact, Scripture declares, “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2).

Why does this matter? Because being holy does not merely mean being a really good person or an upstanding citizen. To the contrary, God’s holiness means that He is entirely set apart, utterly pure, and infinitely above everything He has made. (Not my words by the way). He is not merely better than us; He is altogether unlike us in His majesty, righteousness, and glory. Isaiah saw the Lord exalted upon His throne and heard the seraphim cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).

Everything good in this life flows from God’s goodness. Whatever good we may do in this life is not a monument to our own virtue, but should instead reflect the goodness and mercy of God. These few sentences grossly understate who God is and why we should never dare to treat Him as a commodity. He is not a means to build a brand. He is not a slogan to gain trust. He is not a marketing tool to obtain business.

He is the holy God, deserving of our highest reverence, worship, and obedience.

Having briefly, and admittedly inadequately, shared my greatest fear in identifying myself as a “Christian attorney,” I now want to explain what I believe it means to be a Christian attorney and to operate a Christian law firm. Once again, I could spend page after page researching, refining, and presenting extensive arguments on this subject. That, however, is not my purpose here. Instead, I want to share the three best explanations I can provide for what those words mean to me.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ told His disciples: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

There is an obvious tension here that should not be ignored. Only a short time later in the same sermon, Jesus warns His followers not to practice their righteousness before others merely in order to be seen by them (Matthew 6:1). I will leave a fuller discussion of that tension for another time. For present purposes, however, this command has significantly shaped my understanding of what it means to be a Christian attorney.

As I previously shared, my greatest concern is that the name of God, the Word of God, or the appearance of faith may be used as a commodity for my own personal glory or financial gain. I think about that concern constantly. God has been gracious enough to allow me to continue wrestling through it, and I hope to understand it more faithfully over time, even if complete clarity does not come until glory.

Yet Christ did not command His disciples to hide the fact that they belong to Him. He told them to let their light shine. Importantly, the purpose of that light is not that others would see the Christian and be impressed by him. The purpose is that others would see the good works produced through his life and “give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

That command drives my intent in identifying myself as a Christian and in describing our law firm as a Christian law firm. My hope is that people would see something of God’s goodness and glory in the way I work, in the manner in which my staff treats others, in the atmosphere of our office, and in every interaction we have with a client, colleague, opposing party, or member of the community. My desire is not that someone would walk away thinking highly of me simply because I used the word “Christian,” but that our work might, however imperfectly, point beyond us to the goodness of God.

I say “imperfectly” very intentionally. I am not claiming moral superiority. I am not claiming that being a Christian attorney makes me more righteous, more trustworthy, or less capable of failure than another person. To the contrary, I am a sinner in constant need of grace. Like every Christian, I often fail to live consistently with the faith I profess. At times, I have taken the good things God has permitted me to do and been far too eager to receive the praise for myself rather than direct the glory to Him. I have failed miserably in this respect, and I am certain I will continue to need repentance and correction.

But my failure to perfectly reflect God’s goodness does not relieve me of the responsibility to seek to reflect it. A Christian law firm should not be a place that uses God’s name as a business strategy. It should be a place where the people within it continually seek, through honest work, compassion, integrity, humility, and love of neighbor, to make visible something of the goodness of the God they claim to serve.

My second explanation is simpler: publicly identifying as a Christian attorney keeps me accountable.

I often joke with my children that their dad is indestructible. Unfortunately, that is not true. I am as susceptible as any man to the temptations, frustrations, and weaknesses of this world. I get angry and say hurtful things. I receive criticism about my work and sometimes respond in a manner entirely contrary to how God has called me to respond. I get tired. I get frustrated. My little old feelings get hurt. In short, I fail, frequently.

Thankfully, and entirely undeservingly, God extends His grace to me. There is this “little” thing, and I say that with some humor because He is no little thing at all, called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does far more than I could attempt to explain here, but one of the ways I most directly experience His work is through conviction. He exposes my sin. He reminds me when my words, conduct, and motives are inconsistent with the Christ I claim to serve. He reminds me that my true purpose is not to defend my pride, protect my image, or glorify myself, but to glorify God in my work and in my actions.

Advertising that I am a Christian does not make me better than anyone else. It does not insulate me from failure. In some ways, it simply makes my failures more visible, both to others and to me. But that visibility is not necessarily a bad thing. When I represent to the public that I am a Christian attorney and that we are a Christian law firm, I am making a profession that my work should be governed by something greater than my own preferences, ambitions, or emotions. I am acknowledging that I should be held to the standard of the faith I profess.

So, when I fail, as I often do, the Holy Spirit draws me back. He calls me to repent, to seek forgiveness where necessary, and to return my focus to the purpose for which I was made: to glorify God. Being open about my faith is not a claim that I have arrived. It is, in part, an admission that I desperately need the grace of God and the accountability that comes with bearing His name in my professional life.

If you made this far, here is my final point. Being a Christian attorney is an example for my children. I want my children to see my wife, Rachel, and myself not only talking about our faith, but living it out in our daily lives. I fail so miserably at this and you can ask Rachel, I am sure she could provide a laundry list of my shortcomings if you so desire. But for Rose, Mae, Knox, and Nora, I want to them see that our lives are not our own and belong to God. My work should always reflect the goodness of God, not the vain glory I seek. It does not matter what my kids do for work one day so long as they are doing it for the glory of our God. I want to set that example for them.

In conclusion, when I say that I am a Christian attorney or that we are a Christian law firm, I do not mean that I am perfect, that our firm is better than others, or that the name of God should be used to persuade anyone to hire us. I pray that it never becomes that. Rather, I mean that my work, my office, my staff, my family, and my life belong to God and should be conducted for His glory. I want the light of Christ to be visible in the way we treat people. I want the public profession of my faith to hold me accountable when I fail to live according to it. I want my children to see that no matter what work God gives them one day, their greatest purpose is not personal success, praise, or profit, but faithfulness to Him. I will fail in all of these things, and I will need God’s grace every step of the way. But my failures do not change who He is. He remains holy, good, and worthy of all glory. So, if you see a Bible verse on the wall of my office, read the word “faith” on our website, or hear me say that I am a Christian attorney, my sincere hope is that you do not see a brand or a sales pitch. My hope is that you see, however imperfectly, a man and a law firm attempting to point beyond themselves to the God to whom all glory belongs.