It’s Your Time To Shine!

One of my favorite conversations I have with my son is about nature. We both share the love of nature, and I enjoy his curiosity. Now don’t get me wrong. He is a typical 14 year old who often refers to me as bro and wants to show me endless youtube videos that, as a 14 year old boy, he thinks of as hysterical. I find them moderately funny at best. Regardless, nature is definitely a conversation we both enjoy.

One day recently we were in the car in the middle of the afternoon. It was a clear and sunny day, and you could see the moon very well. He made a comment that it was cool that he could see the moon even in the middle of the day. I agreed, and then said, you know what else is cool about the moon? He wanted to know. And I said that it is evidence that the sun is always shining. He wanted to know what I meant. And I asked him if the moon had any light of its own. He said no. I said then how do we see the moon? He said because it reflects the sun’s light. I said, Exactly. So at night, after the sun has set and we can’t see it, we still see the moon because it is reflecting the sun’s light. So the moon is evidence that the sun is always there, even if we can’t see it. 

I love when I have these conversations and know that the Lord is teaching me something in the midst of me trying to teach my son something. I began thinking about what I just told my son and realized that if in this example God represents the sun, then we represent the moon. We, as Christians, made in God’s image, following Christ and living by the Holy Spirit reflect God’s light. In fact, sometimes we are the only evidence to some people that God exists. 

We all have friends or even family that are not following Christ. They really are not interested in having a relationship with God or only call on God in times of crisis. To those people, you may be the only God they experience. As you soak in God’s presence, spend time with Him, bask in His greatness and mightiness, walk in thankfulness to Him, you reflect God to the people around you. As they experience your love or kindness or gentleness or peace or joy or self control, they are actually experiencing God whether they realize it or not. 

Isaiah 60:1-3 (NKJV) says, “Arise, shine for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And his glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”

The Passion translation says it this way, “Rise up in splendor and be radiant, for your light has dawned, and Yahweh’s glory now streams from you! Look carefully! Darkness blankets the earth, and thick gloom covers the nations, but Yahweh arises upon you and the brightness of his glory appears over you! Nations will be attracted to your radiant light and kings to the sunrise-glory of your new day.”

I love reading these scriptures on how the Lord views us, His people. It is a great reminder to us that even in the midst of darkness and indeed deep darkness, we shine. We reflect who He is. In fact, in the midst of darkness our light shines brighter. It can be a beacon for those who have lost hope.

I can find nowhere in the Bible that God calls His people to hide away or to hang on until His return. In fact God calls us to the exact opposite. As Jesus was leaving the earth, He instructed His disciples to go forth into all the world and share the gospel. 

Mark 16:19 (TPT) “And he said to them, “As you go into all the world, preach openly the wonderful news of the gospel to the entire human race! Whoever believes the good news and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe the good news will be condemned. And these miracle signs will accompany those who believe. They will drive out demons in the power of my name. They will speak in tongues. They will be supernaturally protected from snakes and from drinking anything poisonous. And they will lay hands on the sick and heal them.”

These scriptures lead me to believe that God is not coming back for a church that needs to be rescued. He is coming back for a church that believed what scriptures told her and went out and occupied the territory that the Lord wanted to give her. As it says in Isaiah 60:3, even kings will be attracted to the light as we reflect God’s glory.  

I challenge you today to think of your sphere of influence, meaning the people God has placed around you. Maybe they are people in your workplace, neighborhood, family, fellow parents on sports teams, your child’s teachers. Whoever they may be, ask the Lord to show you which ones you are called to pray for. As you begin to pray for them, see how the Lord opens doors of opportunities for conversations with them. These conversations may seem like small moments to you, but you never know which ones will be life altering for them. Allow God’s light to reflect off of you and onto them. God’s desire is for all to know Him, and we have the privilege to partner with God in that desire. 

God created us for greatness in Him. He created you to advance, not hide.  He loves you more than you know. He is always for you, not against you. It’s your time to shine, my friend!

Check out these other great posts!

How To Overcome Adversity & Shine by Ashley Olivine https://ashleyolivine.com/overcome-adversityhttps://ashleyolivine.com/blog//

Shining Brightly in a Dark World by Dianne Vielhuber. https://simplewordsoffaith.com/wp-admin/shining-brightly-in-a-dark-world/

Make this Advent Shine by Jessica Weaver. http://rootedunrooted.com/blog/make-this-advent-shine