“14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 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. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.… (Matthew 5:14-16)
I sat patiently and waited on the LORD until he gave me the insight for this blog. It was a long wait for this one, I knew He wanted me to talk about our accountability as Christians, but I did not know what direction He would take me in to writing it. So, I continued to ask Abba Father, while waiting, when would He give me the information to give to His people. On my most recent request of what to write, He brought to mind my 9-year-old grandson who lives with me.
Over the past few months, this kid had been really working my nerves. The thing that gets me is he is not a bad child and actually is a highly intelligent boy. I love him dearly, but he has been doing the most lately! From disrespecting his mother, lying about small things, not cleaning his room; and what is worse is the angry looks he give me at times when I try to explain to him, that he is behaving inappropriately. No matter how I want to give up on him some days, the conviction of the Holy Spirit moves upon me, and I remember that I need to be an example to this kid. I need to show him Jesus, even though I really want to beat his tail. So, as the conviction steps in, I digress, and I begin to pray for God to help me to be that light for him; because my flesh just wanted to shake him and just give him a good old- fashioned whipping. Then I think about Jesus words to be an example.
On one particular day, my grandson really acted out and I wanted to grab him up and give him a deserved whipping like I used to give my kids when they were his age, but I chose not to. However, that day as emotions simmered, I asked him to read something out of his youth Bible and explain it to me. He chose a story called “Our Armor” – Ephesians 6:13-17. I was so grateful to the Holy Spirit, for leading him to that scripture. My grandson picked that story out of his children’s bible himself and discussed how it related to a situation that happened earlier that day. He explained the pieces of the armor that he felt was necessary for him to be a better kid. It turned out to be a blessing to both of us. He regrouped, prayed to God after reading, and got back on track and is doing much better now. Had I not been an example to him, by practicing calmness and bringing God into the equation, it would have been a lose-lose situation for him and I.
This is how we Christians’ need to be every day in this world. Whether we are at work, shopping, driving or at home we must reflect Christ. People are counting on us to do the right thing and stand out as righteous God-fearing set aside people as Peter says in 1st Peter 2:9 – (“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”). We are going to be held accountable by God, of how we are dealing with people, we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers! There are so many who are calling us (Christians) hypocrites and that should not be, because we say we are representatives of Christ. We need to represent our God much better than we are doing. According to the prophet Isaiah, 64:6 even our good deeds are as filthy rags, even when we think we are doing good, we can do better. (“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away”) Isaiah 64:6 NASB. God is counting on us to do the right thing.
Here are some Take A-Ways for this blog today.
1. Is there some inward work for me to do? Is my light hiding under a bushel? Do people see the Christ in me when you respond to a situation?
2. Remember God can take the smallest situations, in our lives that ruffle our nerves and turn it into a sermon for ourselves to help us become better Christians; and to help others who are struggling in the same area to become better also.
3. Remember to walk in the spirit and your light will shine, as the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance what you should do when uncomfortable situations rise up.
4. Be the light in every situation. Pray to Abba for the strength to shine no matter what.
Love you with the Love of Jesus. Stay encouraged and remember this….
All we do is FOR HIS GLORY! (F.H.G.)
Linda (Faylin) Brown