Shine On part 2
Isn't it interesting that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai--after having a face-to-face encounter with God--HIS face was shining? Shining so brightly that it scared people? Believe it or not, that's what true, sacrificial, unselfish, unconditional agape love does. It scares people. It seems like it's too good to be true. It makes people feel weird because they aren't used to it. They are used to being used and abused. Or, at the most, that selfish "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine," kind of "love." It's unexpected, and it's surprising, and a lot of the time people don't know how to handle it. Let me say it another way: "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (John 1:5). But here's the deal... just beacuse the "darkness," or the world, unbelievers, "sinners," or whatever you want to call it doesn't comprehend your light, that DOESN'T mean you should stop shining. I'm convinced that when you understand where your shine comes from you can't stop shining anyway. Because it's not what you DO, it's who you ARE. Love isn't just what God does, it's who God IS. And watch this: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God didn't wait for us to make the first move. He made the first move! He made the Way of Grace, and all we have to do is respond to it with the Walk of Faith. Jesus said no man could come to the Father unless he was first drawn BY the Father. This isn't something that comes (first) from us. It comes from the source. And what other source of love could there be than the God who IS love? We waste so much time, and talent, and treasure looking for love in all the wrong places... running FROM God instead of running TO God. Just like those people of Israel that I mentioned earlier who were afraid of Moses' shine. Look at Numbers 6:25, "The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee." OUR shine is really HIS shine! OUR light is really HIS light! His face shines on us, and when we look in the mirror with an open face--with the veil, or the stone, of the Law taken, or rolled, away--we see that glory and are changed into that same image FROM glory TO glory! The glory is already there. It's inside of us because HE is inside of us. Because LOVE is inside of us. And it's what's INSIDE that shines OUTSIDE. What's in you comes out of you. Or rather, it's what you BELIEVE is in you that comes out of you. When you know where your shine comes from, it's impossible to stop shining. When you know where your love comes from it's impossible to stop loving. We're not trying to do anything or be anybody. We're simply being ourselves and doing what we do naturally. Not an old man with a beast nature, trying to earn something because he doesn't know what he's got, but a New Man with a love nature who knows what He's got, and knows that it is too good to keep to Himself! I guess what I'm trying to say is that people may not understand "what you're up to" when you love them. But at that point it won't matter because the love (the shine) inside is overflowing out of you naturally and you couldn't stop it if you wanted to!