Working in a world where faith in God is often misrepresented or misunderstood poses unique challenges. Hailey Baldwin Bieber, wife to singer Justin Bieber, shares how her journey with the Lord has been tested by the fires of culture in a recent YouTube episode, “A Conversation With.”
She is joined by Christian author, comedian and actress Yvonne Orji to talk about what it looks like for a Christian to operate in their God-given callings in a secular field.
The two successful women learned early on in their careers and rise to places of influence in the public eye that their every move, including how they represent Jesus, would come under scrutiny. “Sometimes, it can be difficult to be in this industry believing what we believe,” Bieber says to Orji.
Regardless of what people say about their professions, Bieber and Orji know where they stand with God, and ultimately that’s what they’ve come to realize is most important.
Orji faced criticism from both the secular and Christian circles for her life choices but advice from her pastor stuck with her in those difficult moments: “If you’re the only Jesus that some people will ever see, is God in trouble?”
This, Orji says, doesn’t mean you must proselytize every moment, though there will be seasons where you are able to directly use your influence to lead someone to faith in Jesus. It means, she says, that living out your God-given calling in an authentic way will show His work in your life. And ultimately, “it has to be God that persuades somebody’s heart to believe in what I believe,” Orji says.
Orji says she strives to be the type of Christian that is a “walking version of the Bible,” and concludes, “Your life is a ministry whether you want it to be or not.”
“I’m a human being who is flawed and is going to continue to make mistakes and be flawed,” Beiber agrees. “But I do believe that when someone is persuaded, they’re persuaded by God and it’s not my job to do that.”
Opening up on the challenges she’s faced in the first year of marriage, and the difficulties the 2020 pandemic brought, Bieber recounts how she continually gets asked what “the biggest thing” is that keeps her marriage afloat under societal scrutiny. Her answer is always consistent: faith.
“It’s our faith, it’s what we believe,” she says. “And if we didn’t have that, we wouldn’t even be here, we wouldn’t even be together.”
Despite trials in marriage and in her work life, one thing remains for Bieber: authentically walking out her faith in Jesus will continue to be her guiding light, regardless of shifting expectations.
This, both women agree, is what wins souls.
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