14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15Neither 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.
16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
This my friends is not a suggestion it is a command, a mandate from the Ultimate Light Jesus Christ. We, as Christians, must follow His example in every aspect of our lives. As the world gets darker our lights must shine brighter. We are not to be intimidated by the world or influenced by it, in fact we should be the ones doing the influencing as Paul states in
2Corinthians 5:10-11
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=54&chapter=5&verse=10&end_verse=12&version=9&context=context
We (through the Power of the Holy Spirit) influence and persuade and beg and implore men and women to learn of the terror and the great wrath of the Lord and then once they understand the utter sinfulness of sin against a holy, holy, holy God then and only then can we introduce them to the grace and mercy of a Forgiving and Gracious God (who by the way is one in the same). We must present all sides of God to folk not just one. Yes my friends the reason the Gospel (aka the Good News) is the Good News is because there is most certainly Bad News. The Bad News is the fact that without Jesus's payment, for our sin debt, on the cross we would ALL face an eternal hell. The Good News is that Jesus did die for our sins, even for the sins of the world... past, present and future. He took the cup of wrath that rightly belonged to each one of us. He laid down His life for us and in 3 days he took it back up HALLELUJAH.
So why do we hesitate? Why do we hide our lamps under the bed, our lights under a bushel or take them down from the hill? We do so because the fear of man is greater than the fear of God but the bible says that if this is the case we are not wise because wisdom comes from having a fear of the Lord. Observe this saying in Psalm 111:10 (KJV) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever. Okay so to fear God is fine because He is worthy of our trembling but not only that He is worthy of our honor, our glory our praise anything that is good and just. To fear man, however, is of the enemy as told to us in 2 Timothy 1:7-8 (KJV) 7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Paul tells Timothy (and us as well) a few things in this scripture: that we should fear nothing but God, that we should not be ashamed of God or our testimony and that there will be afflictions in this life associated with spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We must let others know that to come to Jesus has a cost; not all will be martyred as most of the apostles were, not all will be stoned to death or ridiculed, or abandoned by family and friends but all should be prepared for such things. Early 20th century Christian writer Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book entitled 'The Cost of Discipleship' when Christ calls a man He bids him come and die. For we die so many ways as followers of Christ: we die daily, we die to ourselves but all are unto Eternal life. So as I encourage you to let your light so shine I encourage myself as well.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14
-Dee
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