Perspectives

P 2842 Are people drawn to the light in us?

/ DVH

Mark 4:21-25: “He said to them, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

I think the reason we sometimes hide from the light, skip church, don’t read the bible, and we don’t pray – is simple. We don’t want to be convicted or convinced of our stinky attitudes. Maybe whatever we are doing, we don’t want to be found out, so we pronounce church things as ‘boring’… when the reality is – what is said comes way too close for comfort. Where is His light in your life currently at? Is it tucked away, under the bed? Many people build walls to keep them safe, a coffin has walls – a coffin is made for dead things.

As you can see from the above verse, hiding His light within us is a waste of time and energy. One day, everything we’ve said and done quietly, perhaps even sneakily – concerning Mrs Kerfoops across the road – will be shouted from the housetops.BUT!… “IF we confess our sins, He will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done.”I LOVE 💕💕 THOSE LITTLE WORDS… BUT IF …!! This is a good time to praise God for His ongoing, always active, ever-forgiving love in our lives. 

The awful stuff we hide from others, and – even worse – from ourselves! … needs confession and healing. Why not wipe the slate clean, make reparation wherever necessary and move on …??  The point Jesus is making in these verses is that the light of God’s Word is meant to shine in us, and through us, not be hidden away … so we can save face. We are not undercover brothers – WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. That’s why He said don’t put that light in a place where it can’t shine — the light of God is meant to be seen.

At the same time, the light and power of God within us, changes our perspective. It doesn’t just illuminate sin – it makes our surroundings clear and visible. There is way too much darkness all over this earth, because Christians look like everybody else. Being hidden doesn’t mean we are safe – it actually means the people around us can’t see our faith in action. Sadly, who we really are, is who we are when we are squeezed tightly by our circumstances. And no! I don’t much like that sentence either!! 

You and I live wherever we live, because we are to be His light. So the people who live around us can clearly see the dirt and squalor they are choosing to live in. We don’t have to be pompous and look down our noses at others either. The plain truth is this world is currently living in a majority rules situation — they don’t have any light, because we are hiding who we are! God’s Love is His Light! Everyone will know we are Christians by our love, and because LOVE is a verb not a noun, this is something that others can see and experience for themselves. We are Christians – We choose to live and die, loving others. 

You and I are the front-line of what Jesus wants to do on the earth today. Forget people focussing on the pastor, they are looking at us to see if what we say we believe, is real. And if that sentence doesn’t give you and I something to reflect on, we’d all better think again. We aren’t just here to stand up for what we are against – we are here to shine His light and love around, everywhere we go.  His love, needs to be in every dark corner of this world. Loving Jesus means we are for the people He came to save. People were drawn to Him – are they drawn to us? On that happy little note, bye for now! 👋

P 2604 God’s word is a revelation waiting to happen.

/ DVH

Psalm 19:10-14:“God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over Your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray.”

Have you ever watched someone panning for gemstones or gold? They swish water over the collected river gravel and then they swirl the contents around. The heavy stuff, the gold and the gemstones, fall to the bottom and the other useless gravel ends up on top. It is a process of elimination. I think that’s what the Lord does in our lives daily!

This trip has become one of those swirly, whirly times for me. Just when I think I might know something – round we go again and I’m wondering whether I’m sinking or not —- or whether this time I’m gunna end up at the top and be thrown out! I only know one thing, I want to be found to be gold, not gravel. So I keep on digging into His word, looking for things that speak to my heart, as I press on to face each day. Then I look for ways to apply what I read.

To live like that as a body, we will have to be prepared to be rumbled and tossed about – yet at the same time stay incredibly pliable, always prepared for change spiritually speaking. Our trust is definitely going to be stretched  as we get tossed about! We will need to see what the Holy Spirit sees when He is dealing with us. The glint of gold, the sparkle of a gemstone, hidden under the detritus of every day life. The only way that that can happen is to continually expose ourselves to His Word, taking everything we read seriously, and personally. 

Faith says God’s Word is good, it tastes like honey – even if it is sometimes hard to digest! “How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” Psalm 119:103-105. His word can give us understanding about ourselves, and others … it will expose and illuminate our personal circumstances. It takes us out of self-interest into His interests …plus it makes the impossible, possible. 

It can seem that miracles are spectacular things, like raising the dead, turning water into wine, healing the sick, preaching sermons that convict and convince. Maybe when we read the word ‘miracles’ we are blinded by our own ideas. But when Jesus miraculously fed thousands of people, I wonder if everyone knew where that food even came from! We can miss our own miracles, because they don’t come with trumpets and angel song. Instead we need eyes to see and ears to hear what He says and does daily, quietly, without any fanfare. Every single day I submit to His word, I have found He opens my eyes to new perspectives. He also keeps me aware of danger.  

The Holy Spirit, through the bible, challenges who I think I am. He checks me when I am about to lose my way. Before I became aware of the reality of Christ, I just blundered about saying what I thought … when I thought it. Because I was living that way, I was blissfully unaware of how what I said affected other people. Truth alone can be harsh and unyielding, but truth kissed with LOVE will set people free to see Him, and find themselves.

I like to use the above scripture as a prayer. Especially the ‘keep me from stupid sins’ part! This psalmist understands God’s dealings with mankind. He knows, that we are like the precious, but yet-to-be-revealed gemstones hidden in the accumulated gravel of our lives. We all need shaking up. We need to be sloshed about in the whirlwinds of this world, so we can be separated away from the false comfort we think we need. Unfortunately we won’t cry out for deliverance if we don’t think we need to be delivered. Instead, we could easily blame someone else for our own faults, and make them the fall guy! Here’s a hot tip: try asking Him; “what did I do?”

God’s Word is everything we need for personal revelation. There are things for each of our lives that are poised, waiting to happen, waiting to be discovered. I exhort all of us to search for the gemstones, and be careful what we throw away!  Think about the bible says, chew on it, sink your teeth into it until you get happy honey nourishment from it.  👋