The Light of the World

I am the light of the world. I pondered this as I approached a group of rowdy teenagers just released from the highschool across the road. I caught the eyes of one or two and smiled but they only stared with hollow eyes.

I am the light of the world, I thought as I watched the myriad cars, pickup trucks, suvs, and buses hustling by in the street.

I am the light of the world, as a young lady jogged past me.

Not so much a light, I thought, but a spark. A very tiny spark. What is a spark on such a sea of darkness? I felt overwhelmed, like one against a troop (Psalm 18:29).

I cried to God. My soul aches for the empty souls around me, for I was once one of them. I want them all to know the fulfillment of life and joy that I have found for it so vast and marvelous! But how can I share the way to the path of life (Psalm 16) with those who pass me by, most with whom I have no opportunity to even speak a word?

Then the Spirit spoke to my heart. My God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). It is He who will lighten their darkness (Psalm 18:28), He who will kindle a flame in their cold hearts. Just as I may touch a burning candle to a tuft of tinder, He touches my life to a person's soul. A smile here. A word of kindness there. A helping hand, a look of understanding. Spark upon spark until His great love consumes!

A look of love may ignite, beyond those hollow eyes, a glimmer of hope, hope that will desire and yearn and search until it blazes with the Light of the world.

~

Father, use me to this end!

I am the light of the world only because

the Light of the world is within me.

I am a mere flicker on this sea of darkness,

but Your Spirit is strong

and able to overcome the darkness.

(John 1:5; I John 4:4)

Fire goes before You

and burns up Your adversaries all around.

(Psalm 97:3)

You, my God, are the  

Consuming Fire!

~

Matthew 5:14-16

You are the light of the world. . .

People [do not] light a lamp and put it under a basket,

but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

so that they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

~

Hebrews 12:29

For our God is a consuming fire.

~

Psalm 18:28

For it is You who light my lamp;

the LORD my God lightens my darkness.

My grace is sufficent for you.

Well, as you know, spring is here!  Isn't it wonderful?  For me, this feels more like the beginning of the year than January did!  I can finally start organizing things that got negected during the cold winter months, as well as start preparing my garden, and making little plans for things I can do this summer.

Do you ever have dreams for the future?  (If so, feel free to tell me about them!)

I think dreams are beautiful and wonderful things if they are in line with God's desires (which He makes known to us in His word, the Bible),  and also, if our dreams do not plant seeds of discontentment in our hearts, for things that are out of our reach.  We should always be ready to change our plans if they in any way conflict with God's perfect will for us.

Which brings me to the main thrust of what I want to talk about... being content.  (God has been teaching me a lot about contentment lately.)   I think that if we understand what godly contentment is and really embrace it for ourselves, only then can we be really and truly happy.

Contentment, in essense, is accepting any and all circumstances that come our way, because we know that God is in control, and He is totally perfect and good, beyond our understanding.  Even hard times are part of his beautiful plan for us.  If we are trusting God and seeking Him and His word for strength, I believe that there is nothing we can't face or go through.  God will bring us out all in good time, and He'll be with us all the way if we believe.

Contentment is also the opposite of greed.  Are we still joyful even when we don't get that thing we've always wanted?  Are we satisfied with all that God HAS given us?  (Because, if we're honest with ourselves, we know that He has given us so much already!)  Is His grace and love sufficient for us?  (2 Corinthians 12:9)  "And He said to me,  “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”"


Isn't that amazing?  God's purposes are fulfilled and His glory and strength made known through times when we are insufficient!  The point is, that God can make good come of anything, which is proof of His power!  When we realize this, then we can be content in any situation!

Are you content with letting God be your Father?  Are you content to just let Him be your source of happiness?  If so, I'd REALLY like to hear about that!

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.... But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life..."
1 Timothy 6:6-9,11,12a

Satisfied

With great shame I confess that motherhood frequently brings out the worst in me. I am appalled at the ugliness of my heart. Sins that pride had convinced me were conquered or nonexistent have manifested themselves in ways I never thought possible. I am grieved by my impatience, anger, bitterness, frustration, selfishness—I could go on—toward the dear ones the Lord has entrusted to me. 

 

I am supposed to be a little Christ to my children, a model of His character, a channel for His love. How often I fail! Yet how often have I found forgiveness and grace before the throne of God! I pray, pleading for victory over my flesh. I read His Word, and He teaches me and sanctifies me. 

 

Only as I abide in Christ will His love control me, subduing my fleshly impulses and enabling me to respond in a manner pleasing to God. But I cannot abide in Him unless I am satisfied with Him. I need to believe that Christ alone is capable of fulfilling my most intimate desires. I must come to Him, trusting that His provision will meet my deepest needs.

When His will becomes my ambition, His glory my motivation, His kingdom my desire, when I would rather meet with Him than attend to my personal hobbies and interests, when earthly entertainments and amusements seem dull and unattractive in comparison to the Living Word, then will I have the proper mindset to instruct my children in the way that they should go and to properly demonstrate the joyous outcome of obedience and submission which I am striving to instill in them.

~

Come to Christ, you who are weary of trying to satisfy yourself, and He will give you rest, fulfilling your every desire. Serve Him in submission and obedience, uniting your heart to His with a willingness to learn and grow, and you will be comforted by His gentle compassion. Service to Christ is neither enslaving nor burdensome (Matthew 11:28-30) because His joy is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10), His peace surpasses human comprehension (Philippians 4:7), His grace is sufficient, and His power is magnified when you are weak and incapable of accomplishing your mission (2 Corinthians 12:9).

If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6), because God promises that He will not withhold anything good from them that seek Him and walk uprightly (Psalm 34:10, 84:11). He is gracious and merciful, providing food for those who fear Him (Psalm 111:4-5). He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with good things (Psalm 103:5, 107:9; Isaiah 55:2c). He is able to bring you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things (Jeremiah 2:7a). All you have to do is come (Isaiah 55:1-3)!

Come to the waters!

Come!

Come!

Listen!

Eat!

Delight!

Incline your ear!

Come to me!

Hear!

Make the Lord your portion (Psalm 16:5). He has prepared a table before you (Psalm 23:5). Satisfy the appetites of your soul with these eternal pleasures (Psalm 16:11) rather than with the dainties the world offers. Come, feast upon Him, delight in Him, and you shall not hunger, for He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35).

Make Him your cup (Psalm 16:5). Everyone who drinks from the well of worldly pleasure will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that Christ offers will never thirst. The water that He gives will become in your soul a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14). Those who taste of this eternal spring will see that Christ is good (Psalm 34:8a). 

 

If anyone thirsts, let him come to Christ and drink. Out of the hearts of those who believe in Him will flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38). For those who thirst and faint for Him, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1), He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. In this place He lets the hungry dwell (Psalm 107:35-36). He leads them beside still waters (Psalm 23:2).

Christ's flesh is true food, and His blood is true drink (John 6:55). When you feed on the Word that became flesh and delight in Him, meditating day and night on His laws (John 1:14; Psalm 1:2), you become like Him, no longer judging others and speaking in ways that are dishonoring to God. You pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted (Isaiah 58:9-10). You visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and deny yourself the sinful pleasures of the world (James 1:27). You allow the Lord to guide and strengthen you and satisfy your desires even when your circumstances afford no joy. In Him alone you find the fulfillment of joy (Psalm 16:8,11; 18:1; John 15:11).

 

He is your cup that overflows (Psalm 23:5). You become like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail (Isaiah 58:11), and like a tree planted by streams of water, that sends out its roots by the streams, that unceasingly yields its fruit in its season, whose leaves remain green and do not wither, who does not fear when heat comes, and is not anxious in the year of drought (Psalm 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8). The righteous flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar. . .They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age, they bear the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. They are ever full of sap and green so that they may continue to declare that the Lord is upright, that He is our Rock in whom is no unrighteousness (Psalm 92:12-15; Galatians 5:22-23).

What wrong did [you] find in Christ that [you] went far from Him, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless (Jeremiah 2:5)? Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy (Isaiah 55:2a) when God is offering the Bread of Life freely (Isaiah 55:1)? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food (Isaiah 55:2b). Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you (John 6:27). Do not indulge in anything that is spiritually worthless (Psalm 101:3). Feast upon that which is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable with excellent qualities and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Remember the Lord as you lay in bed. Meditate on Him in the quiet hours of the night, and your soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food (Psalm 63:5-6). Feast upon the Bread of Life because those who eat of it shall not die but will live forever (John 6:51)!

Spring's Song

All the signs of spring are precious. The fearless crocuses pushing up their heads from beneath the earth, sunny daffodils blooming with all their might, golden forsythia spotting the country side, the first robin on the wing… But my favorite part of Spring is the music of the birds. How loud the tree tops are now! compared with their solemn silence of winter.

There are some ways in which I would do well to imitate the birds. Frigid nights and late snowfalls do not dampen their spirits at all. No matter what things may look like you can count on them to keep singing the arrival of Spring, and every year (despite March blizzards!) they are right. I on the other hand far too often take my cue first from my circumstances. As I encounter each new problem; broken relationships, friends gone astray, financial burdens, cancer…from my perspective things can look pretty bleak. I tend to expect bad outcomes rather than glorious ones leaving our mighty God completely out of the picture. Lately God has been answering a few of those ’impossible’ prayers of mine and writing stories of redemption before my very eyes that I would never have imagined. It is making me look differently at the bad stuff in my here and now, and Oh but what a blessing that is!! We don’t know the end of the story because God is not finished yet! NO problem is too complicated NO person beyond His power and grace. We have no idea what amazing things our tomorrow may bring because God is in the business of changing lives and working miracles.

So what ’impossible’ things are you facing right now? I know what mine are! Let’s take them to our gracious Heavenly Father and leave them there. Rest assured that if things do not change it is not because God lacks the power, He simply has a bigger plan. Wait for it. The same way we wait for Spring.

“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord - that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” James 5:7-8,11