"THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE"

Good Evening to All!

I had started out in one direction tonight, but when I was looking up one scripture, another jumped out at me, and I felt in my spirit that I should go with the latter one instead.

Matthew 5:16 says, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Now the NKJV reference for this verse says: The believer does not have inherent light; rather we have reflective light. As we behold the glory of the Lord, we reflect it. Therefore, we need to make sure that nothing comes between us and the Lord's light (see 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil.2:14-16).

And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)

(14) Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves], (15) That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guiltless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world, (16) Holding out [to it] and offering [to all men] the Word of Life, so that in the day of Christ I may have something of which exultantly to rejoice and glory in that I did not run my race in vain or spend my labor to no purpose. (Phil. 2:14-16)

Now first of all, I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that are a lot smarter than I am, but I had to look up the word "inherent". My thesaurus gave me synonyms such as: natural, native, congenital, inborn, inbred and real.

Therefore, we do not have natural light in us. The Bible tells us we were born in sin. We as humans have a sinful nature. Therefore the light which we have in us is God's light reflected in us.

It is possible to be "good people" and not be a "Child of God". A person can have a sense of right and wrong. He can be a good person, do nice things for people, volunteer, not steal, lie or things of that nature, and still not have God in his life. The sad thing is, if he doesn't have God in his life, then he is bound for a bleak eternity.

We need to get God in our life and keep Him there. We need to do what is required of us to be Children of God. This means fulfilling what I fondly call the "prerequisites" of salvation, which doing what Peter said and abiding by Acts 2:38. Then start your life over by living for God. Yes, it is a journey. Part of that journey is letting God's "reflective light shine through you to others, so that they too will want to know how wonderful it is to live for God and have the expectation of an eternity in Heaven with our Savior.

The reason I am saying this is because we need to make sure that when we take steps to change our lives (or I should say let God change our lives) then we need to make sure that NOTHING comes between us and the Lord's light.

If we aren't careful, we can let the worries of this world, the day to day battles get hold of us, and wear us down until it gets between us and the light. If we get tired of fighting what this "world" is shoving in our face constantly, it is possible if we don't keep God's light in the forefront of our lives that we could "fall away". The Bible even talks about that happening in the last days, and the last days are definitely here. I'm not saying that the end is coming tomorrow, next week or even 2 years from now, but it will be soon. All we have to do is look at the signs, and feel the spirits in the air. The immorality, the unbelief, children against their parents, parents against their children and on and on.

Let God's light shine bright in your life. Do it for yourself and for others. When you do, it makes you feel good deep down in your soul, and it also helps others to see this and maybe even bring them to Christ. It is time for the harvest. God needs "laborers out in His field. If we let His light shine through us, that alone can bring people to Him.

I feel like the "reference verses" are pretty self-explanatory. That we as Christians, as Children of the Most High God, are His ambassadors to the World. We are to be examples to the "world". We are God's hands, feet and mouth. The Bible says God made us in His image. I truly don't believe it was talking in the physical sense. When He first made us, we were perfect in every way. It was His intention that we would live forever with Him until Satan showed up and Eve allowed him to deceive her.

Therefore, I contend that when God says He made us in His image He was referring to His attributes, or having the "Fruit of the Spirit" in our lives. When we have the Fruit of the Spirit, we are kind, loving, patient, we have peace, joy, faithfulness, gentleness, practice self control, we show compassion, charity, and love. When these attributes are active in our lives, then God's light shines through us and others know there is something different about us from the "world", and they will want to be part of it also.

In case you are wondering about my choices of pictures, I liken the lighthouse to Jesus, because He is the light of the world. His light is so bright that He can shine it through us and we can allow others to see it if we don't let "junk get in the way". I liken us to a candle shining in the darkness. we are but a little flame, but as long as there is light coming from it, it cuts through the darkness of the world.

We must not let the world get between us and God's light. If it does, it will not only harm us, and make us into hypocrites, (I say this because I have seen people from churches I have been to in the past, turn toward the "world" after being in a relationship with Christ, and start doing things that it's obvious that God would not approve of, yet still call themselves Christians. Those are who I call hypocrites.

If a person is going to affiliate themselves with Christ our Savior, and call themself a Christian, then they need to talk the talk AND WALK THE WALK. This means letting God's light shine through them to others in full view.

If you have to, get that little song in your brain until it makes you want to start doing what it says: This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Another one is : You can't be a beacon if your light don't shine (the author's grammar not mine), you can't be a beacon if your light don't shine, shine a little light in all the world by God's design, you can't be a beacon if you light don't shine.

I learned these songs when I was a child, but the words still ring in my heart.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!