Christian Living

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It’s no news that the world we live in is a very dark one, spiritually speaking. But what might interest you is the fact that it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way! Let me explain: imagine for a moment that you walked into a room at night with the lights turned off and to make matters worse it’s not your house so you don’t know where the light switch is. Sadly however the fellow who lives there is right beside you but for some inexplicable reason decides that he wants to walk around in the dark! When Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 He obviously had a lot to say and one of them was “turn on the lights and leave them on”! Now we both know He didn’t use those exact words (Thomas Edison wasn’t born yet) but that’s what He was saying in effect. If you’re a Christian you’re the light of the world. You’re not hoping to become the light of the world or trying to become the light of the world, you are the light of the world. Now you might not feel like the light of the world or even the light of your house for that matter, but if you had a million bucks what you feel would have nothing to do with it. But the sad fact is that if someone had a million dollars in his bank account but was unaware of it he could live and die like a pauper! You are the light of the world but if you don’t realize it you’ll live in darkness when you should be the light! You became the light of the world the very moment you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour because “in Him was life and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4 NIV). You were translated from the dominion of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of the Son He loves (Colossians 1:13) and we know that in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). The moment you became a Christian you were automatically divorced from darkness never to be united with it again! Darkness is ignorance and that is the tool of the devil (little wonder his is called the kingdom of darkness) but light is revelation and when the light shows up darkness is dispelled immediately without contest!

What I’m simply trying to do is to stimulate you to realize that loaded within you by God Himself is light for a dark, lost and misguided world. Like I said earlier, whether or not you feel like it you are the light of the world. So what exactly does light do? Light puts everything in plain view and shows everyone where to step in order to avoid to obstacles and pitfalls. It is our divinely ordained privilege as members of the Body of Christ to show this world that the power of God is available to transform weak, sin-sick and fearful men, women, boys and girls into the people that they were intended by God to be. But notice something very important which is easily overlooked: Jesus said “let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16 NIV). If you don’t let your light out it will stay hidden and so as far as the world is concerned you’ll be irrelevant. Also notice that your light in the form of the things you do ( good deeds ) will be visible to people and in that way you’ll draw them to God because they’ll want to know exactly how you’re able to do the things you do. Let me put it this way, if you refuse to “let your light shine” you are in essence not serving your purpose of drawing people to God!

A big problem that some Christians have is that they do not think they have anything which anyone would want to see. If you’re a Christian and you think you have nothing which is worthy of recognition let me remind you that the same Holy Spirit that was hovering over the formless mass that was the earth before God said “ let there be light” is the very same Holy Spirit living in you this very moment. And in the same way as everything that resulted from that spoken word was good, the capacity to do things which everyone will see and call “good” is in you right now. Simply place a demand on what is inside you and the results will amaze even you. Remember Gideon in Judges Chapter 6? The angel of the Lord appeared to him and addressed him as “mighty warrior” but I’m sure he didn’t feel like one at all because he was hiding to thresh wheat for fear of the Midianites! When he eventually accepted that he was who God said he was, God was able to use him to miraculously deliver the Israelites. You possess divine ability to produce results because you have become a partaker of the divine nature and God always produces amazing results. So don’t think for a moment that you’re incapable of doing great things that will cause people to praise God because that is the reason you were created (Ephesians 2:10).

Let me state at this point that you will not be able to shine as the light of the world if you do not hold out and hold on to the word of God ( Philippians 2:15-16). If you don’t offer the world something that is effective and which it does not possess then you’ll be irrelevant to the world. In a world where there is such depravity and darkness it is so pertinent that we hold out the Word of God clearly and completely to the world. It is the Word of God, the Bible, which will cause you to stand out and be “a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden”. Unless you know, believe, speak, practice and stand on the Word of God you will have nothing to shine forth because God’s word is light! The world already has philosophies and theories which have failed and continue to fail, therefore what the world needs is the light of the Word of God and you are a carrier of that light. Don’t let the world around you die in darkness when you have the solution to its problems! I have decided that the world will be illuminated and shown the way as a result of the light that emanates from within me and I encourage you to make the same decision. As we do this, all the praise and glory will go to our heavenly Father because He is the Power source and we are the light bulbs! God bless you as you shine like a star in the universe and pierce the darkness!

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