A String of Lights - Friday December 11, 2015
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. Matthew 5:15 NIV
The Christmas tree was up and ready to be decorated. We unpacked and plugged in our light strings with bated breath... would they work? Just as we feared, several lights were dark-up to half a string in some cases.
The choice was ours. We could take on the tedious job of checking each bulb to see which was bad, or we could use two half-lit strings together, hiding the unlit bulbs discreetly, or we could just throw out the bad string and buy a new set!
In a similar fashion, we Christians who are Christ's lights can sometimes let our light go dim so that it hardly appears to be shining at all. I know the reality of that personally. For several years early on in my Christian life, I was more influenced by the world's way of thinking than by God's. I seldom read my Bible, prayed, or had any sort of fellowship with other believers. And my life showed it. I was, simply put, like a burned-out bulb.
Fortunately God wasn't done with me. He sent believers into my life whose lights were brightly shining and used them to influence me to seek God and apply His truths to my heart. It wasn't too long before my light was cheerfully shining in a way that all could see!
Christian, how is your light doing? Do those around you notice a difference between you and those who don't know Jesus? Take time to spend with Jesus. Let His Spirit and His truth fill your heart and mind in such a way that you are illuminated with Him.
Submitted by:
Dawn Bovenmyer
Stonebrook Community Church
Ames, Iowa
One-Year Reading Plan:
Amos 4:1-6:14
Revelation 2:18-3:6
Psalms 130:1-8
Proverbs 29:21-22
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SCRIPTURE REFERENCB-ES: Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible B) The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy, Bible, New International Version, copyright B) 1973, 1978, 1984 by InternaB-tional Bible Society; (NKJV) are from New King James Version B) 1982 by Thomas Nelson; (NLT) are from the New Living Translation, B) 1996, Tyndale House Publishers; (ESV) are from English Standard VersionB., B) 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; (TM) are from The Message B) 1993 by NavPress Publishers.