Shining Light

Given November 28, 2007
During my morning devotion time, I was thinking about Christians being the "light of the world", Matthew 5:14. I realized that we, as Christians, are supposed to shine wherever we go but that's not always the case. So how do we increase our luminance?

One way is to realize we have a gift of fire within us and we have to stir it up, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2 Timothy 1:6". Paul told Timothy to stir up his own gift into a shining flame that others could see and be drawn to. We do this by prayer, saying positive things, hanging out with Jesus, joining with others of like mind, listening to uplifting music, being reminded that we are stronger than the enemy and of past victories, and staying in the Word.

Then I got a vision of another way to light our fire. Think of a football coach giving a pep talk to his team before the big game or high school students whipped into a frenzy at a pep rally. With that thought in mind, I saw my pastor before a crowd of thousands in front of our church. He was stirring up the crowd with the encouraging and edifying Word of God. Soon, out over the crowd, one started to shine, then another, then five, then ten until the whole crowd was shining brightly. The light could be seen for miles like it is with a football stadium at night.

Then the people started leaving and going up the road to their neighborhoods and homes, lights brightly shining as they went. What a picture! It's like the end of the movie "Field Of Dreams" where you saw the car lights coming to the field in the dark. And these well-lit Christians would now be shining the light of God wherever they went. Oh, what a difference we could make in our communities if we all were bright, shining lights!