Shine On part 3
How do we shine? By trying really hard to "do everything right"? That's pretty much the world's definition, isn't it? But while we are--in a sense--in the world, we are not of the world. And I say, "in a sense" because REALLY we're in the Kingdom. Really we ARE the Kingdom. But I digress. Shining isn't about trying really hard to be someone you're not. Shining is about being who you are. And since you're dead and your life is hid in Christ... the only way to KNOW who you are is to know who HE is. That's what I believe John the revelator was saying in 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." I DON'T believe this is a verse about one human being named Jesus "coming back" in one human body. I believe this verse is about Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body--appearing... to us and in us and through us! We will "be like him" because He will be like Himself in us! Listen, we know that as He is, so are we in this world. We don't need to do anything to "be like Him" except believe that we are like Him, and get to know Him. If we don't know what He's like, how can we be like Him? And it all comes from inside. We are the light of the world, because He is the light of the world and He lives in us. His life is the light of men. Now watch this, "Six days later, three of them saw that glory. Jesus took Peter and the brothers, James and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light" (Matthew 17:1-2 MSG). Changed from the inside out. What's inside--or what you BELIEVE is inside--always comes out. You can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have. So if it's inside, it has to come out. And look what was inside: Sunlight. SONLIGHT. Even His clothes were filled with light. We affect everything around us. Not just ourselves, and not even just other people. Everything. All of creation is groaning for the MANIFESTATION of the Son(s) of God. When He appears--in us--when He manifests, from the inside out... that's when (and how) we shine. Not by never making a mistake... not by trying to be someone we're not... but simply by doing whatever we do in love. Here's my old example: I'm a writer. That's what I do. And I wrote for a long time without it accomplishing anything. Wrote what I would call, "pulp" and what my grandma would--and has--called trash. But then I started to learn about Jesus. Learn about ME. (Because what's true about Him is true about me.) And then I started to write Jesus. And now I've published over half a dozen books. See what I mean? When we do what we do in love it's unstoppable. It's too big--to bright--to hold back. And some people might not understand it, they might run from it, but the Word will not fall void. It (love) will accomplish what it set out to do. Because in reality it has already accomplished it. The work is finished. We are loved. And we--through the Holy Spirit--KNOW that we are loved. We receive it, and release. We shine!