The Bible tells us as
believers that we are the light of the world, and that we should
shine before all men (Matthew 5:14-16), that we should abide in
Jesus and bear fruit (John 15:1-11), and many other things like
this. What do all of these things mean? It is quite simple really.
Remember, Christians are not people who pray a prayer at some
evangelistic event and then go on about their life as usual. They
are people, who first have an encounter with God, repent of their
sin, and give their life to Jesus for the rest of eternity. The
emphasis we want to make here is that our life is not ours to do as
we please anymore. We have surrendered it to God. He has given us a
mission and the assignment instructions are found in His Word—the
Bible. We should read this manual, but more than that, live it out.
“But be doers of the word, not hearers only deceiving yourselves.”
(James 1:22, and yes this is exactly where 122 comes from). When we
have given our life to Christ, and his Spirit lives in us, we are
then able to “bear fruit” and “shine light”, etc. In both of the
passages mentioned above Jesus explains how this is done. “Let your
light shine before others, so that they may see your GOOD WORKS and
give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16) And also,
“If you KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS you will abide in my love, just as I
have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” (John
15:10) It is in doing the good works that God has prepared for us
that we shine and bear fruit. We don’t earn our keep or anything for
that matter by DOING WORKS. But, God is so gracious to allow us to
participate in his works on this earth. It is our assignment from
Heaven. It is your mission should you chose to accept it…
We will keep some opportunities posted to the right to do the work
of God. There are some mission opportunities (local and distant) and
some 122 challenges, which are Biblical Application Assignments that
go along with messages preached at our Wednesday Night meetings.
Abide and Shine!
|
|
|
