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Posts Tagged ‘faith’

Let Your Light Shine

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 29, 2024| 2 Comments »

I have been a bit under the weather for a few days. I think God often uses times like this in my life to help me slow down and, hopefully rest, but also give me time to reflect and pray. Yesterday, I had to preach by video (not wanting to share the joy of the flu with our church family), but I felt it was important to wrap up a series that we have been in since the beginning of January – Inside Out.

The text for yesterday’s sermon was Matthew 5:14-16. In these verses, Jesus reminds us that as His followers, we are “the light of the world.” This is a powerful and humbling statement full of significance. In John 8:12, Jesus called Himself the light of the world. This statement in John is one of seven “I Am” statements. So, for Jesus to include us, His followers, in this description is powerful. As Jesus followers we are invited into His redemption ministry and commanded to make a difference by making disciples.

Each of us has a purpose and that purpose is to glorify God in all we do so that others are shown the way to Jesus. Verse 16 of Matthew 5 reminds us that we are to let our light shine before others so that they may see our good deeds – our Godly lifestyle – and praise God. You are to be a reflection of the one true light and when you reflect Him well, others see, and their path to Jesus becomes a bit more illumined.

I shared a haunting question in my sermon that has been a point of tension for me for over a week: “Do the people who encounter me on a daily basis, see anything in me that prompts them to praise God?” 

Maybe that is a question you need to wrestle with today as well.

We are to strive to be light that points others to Jesus. Shine your light today.

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Who and What You Trust Makes All the Difference

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on December 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday, one of my readings was in the book of Psalms. Psalm 146 begins with a reminder that we are to praise the Lord each and every day – “all of my life” and “as long as I live,” the psalmist says. God is truly worthy of our praise and this season is a reminder of why. Because of His great love, God stepped into time and space and took on humanity – the Creator became part of His creation. And so we praise Him. Our gratitude and relief should spur us to praise each day.

The psalm then moves to a reminder of the importance of where we place our trust. Verses 3 – 4 of this psalm are the words that have haunted me since yesterday.

3 Do not put you trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.

“On that very day their plans come to nothing.” What a stark reminder of what matters in this life. We can easily fall into the trap of hustle to get more, to do more, to be more. We, in our humanity, are never satisfied with getting more and more. But at the end of our lives, none of that matters – it all ends in nothing.

There are two lessons I am processing from this verse. The first is as stated above, we need to make sure our striving is for what does not fade or rust nor for what thieves can break in and steal. Our striving should be for treasures laid up in heaven – striving to love Jesus and to show that love to others.

The second lesson is one of trust. Who do I trust? The “princes” of this world, we might use the word “influencers,” are not where we should place our trust. All human plans will come to nothing. All the scraping, working, striving and sweating will come to NOTHING. Placing our trust in people is trust that will always let us down.

The only one we can trust is Jesus. His love is trustworthy. His act of incarnation proves His love and the length to which He would go because of that love. Trust in Jesus is the only thing that will lead to all that matters.

So this Advent season, let your mind and heart move to a renewed focus on Jesus and the trustworthy love that He has for you. And let that focus result in praise.

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