I hope you are having a blessed start to your New Year! It has been great on so many levels and I have been -- and will continue to be -- praying that GOD will add His blessings to you and all your endeavors for 2013.
In last week's blog, I wrote about how the light of the Christmas star is STILL shining! On that first Christmas, it was the light of the star that led the Magi (or Wise Men) to Jesus, indicating that GOD had indeed come for all. Since the light of Christ still shines, people are being beckoned to The Lord for Jesus. Christ has invited us each and everyone into the beautiful and blessed task of bringing people to Him and has shared His light with us so we may use our lives to point people to Him.
Jesus, being the light of the world, has called and challenged us to shine brightly for Him. In Matthew 5.14a & 16, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world...In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." In this past Sunday's contemporary service, I offered some ideas and advice as to how you can make sure that your light shines for The Lord. I created an acrostic using the word, shine, that I want to share.
The 'S' stands for your skills: GOD wants you to use your skills and talents to point people to Him. Since GOD has created us uniquely and wonderfully, we all have a myriad of skills, that when used for the Lord's glory, allow your light to shine for Him. If you're a butler, a baker, or a candlestick maker, use your skills to shine for GOD!
The 'H' in our shine acrostic stands for your heartaches: the things that cause us pain have the ability to deepen our compassion reserves. When we feel compassion for certain people, issues, etc., we are asked to shine by bringing the presence of GOD's light and love into someone else's darkness. Maybe your heartaches are for orphans, poverty, illnesses, addiction, or so on and so forth...if you allow the depths of your compassion reserves to motivate you to serve GOD by illuminating someone else's darkness, then you are shining for GOD!
The 'I' stands for your interests: this is an area where your hobbies can really come in handy! If you have a particular interest in something, you undoubtedly have a group of friends that share in that with you. Maybe you are an avid football fan -- invite some friends to watch a game and have a devotion during halftime. Maybe you are an exercise enthusiast -- invite someone to workout with you and share with them your salvation story as you exercise. These are just two examples, but I think you get the idea.
The 'N' in our acrostic stands for new beginnings: our lives are full of these opportunities; in fact, we just celebrated one in the New Year. Whether it's in a new job, a new school year, or a new relationship, new opportunities provide us the chance to meet new people, do new things, and discover new horizons -- use those to shine for GOD!
Lastly, the 'E' stands for experiences: the idea is to use your past mistakes and discoveries, victories and defeats, to give you the insight to make the most of your new opportunities. We all have a history that is being written and GOD wants us to weave these together within the purpose He has placed in our lives and use these to shine! Our experiences also allow us to take advantage of past mistakes and lessons to maximize our eternal potential. The beauty in this is that even if we might have the most despicable past, we can discover our newness in Jesus and shine for Him despite what we've been through...self-inflicted or otherwise. Like the old saying goes, every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
This New Year we are called to continue to point people to GOD through The Lord Jesus Christ. In nature we see that lights (particularly at night) draw creatures forth, regardless if it is a campfire or a light bulb. There is no doubt that there is darkness all over our world; just as GOD sent Jesus to illuminate our spiritual darkness, we are called to bear witness to the light of Jesus and share with others just how brightly Jesus shines in spite of your past and your present, and in hopes of a blessed future! So regardless of who you are, where you have been, or what you have done, know that the love of GOD enables and empowers you to SHINE when you give your skills, heartaches, interests, new beginnings, and experiences to Him!
Happy New Year and SHINE On!
Pastor Mark
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