Shine On part 4
Remember in the last Rant series how we learned that Jesus lit us up with His life, which is the light of men? Well that's not all He did. He put us on display. Look at Matthew 5:15-16, "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before me, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." There's a couple of key things here. First I want to hit the truth that we don't MAKE our light shine. We LET it shine. The song says, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna LET it shine." Light shines because it's light. That's it's nature. And we are the light of the world. We don't shine because we try really hard to shine. So even when we see that our light illuminates our good works, I don't want us to get the idea that our good works PRODUCES the light. Because works don't work. Righteous people do righteous things, not the other way around. We don't do righteous things in order to be righteous. We don't try to get the light. We shine because we HAVE the light. Because we ARE the light. Another key to see here is that, again, we are on display. Does it ever feel like as soon as you "became a Christian" (if I can say it that way), people started really watching you? Just waiting for you to mess up so they could point a finger and say, "See! You're no better than I am?" Well, get used to it. Because Christians ARE looked at differently. And a lot of it, I think, is our fault. Because we preach tolerance with one hand while condemning everything in sight with the other hand. And that makes us look like hypocrites. That's why it's so hard for the world to pick up what we're laying down. I'm telling you, if you try to shove Jesus down someone's throat, all they're going to do is choke on it. That's NOT what evangelism, or being a missionary, or a disciple, or whatever, is all about. It's all about shining the light. It's all about love. It's all about SHOWING people something different. Something better than what they already have. The world has plenty of condemnation to go around. That's why there's NO condemnation in Christ. We have a more excellent way. And His name is Jesus. His name is love. We aren't trying to "scare people straight." We are simply opening our arms in the same love embrace that Jesus had for us on the cross. Simply telling people, "It's ok. I love you." We don't have to fix people. We simply bear the fruit of the Spirit (which is love) that the Vine produces. We simply receive what we've been given and release it to those around us. That's why you but the candle on a candlestick, so everybody can enjoy the light. That's why God put you where you are. Because there are people around you who need love. And you have it. People in darkness need light. And that's you. People are watching you, yes. But that's a good thing. Because if they weren't watching they couldn't see your good works (again, the ONLY good work is charity, love in action. And we do that work not in order to get something, but because we have something). So shine on. Even if you mess up. Even if people are watching. ESPECIALLY if they are watching. Because they need to see what you've got.