August 16, 2008 7:40 AM
Sam wrote:
"Let your little light shine." ALthough Aaron and his sons are to keep the olive oiled lamps burning in the Tent of Meeting for generations, so should we keep our 'light burning' for our generation. I don't believe any of us do that really, really well. To be the light of Jesus, we should be acting like Him all the time, not just when we're reading the Bible. Take last night for example. My wife and I went to see Tropic Thunder. If you want to portray your life as being like Jesus, I would't go see it, OR rent the DVD. Language was terrible in it. Made fun of Blacks and people with learning disabilities. I was ashamed as I was getting up to leave, because I KNEW I, right then and there, was not a good representative of Jesus. Jesus would have condemned the movie like He did the money-changers in the Temple Yard. No, my 'little light of Jesus' did not shine last night. God tells Moses that the Tent of Meeting lamps would be lit for generations to come, and would not be shut off except during the day when light was not needed. Today, OUR light, that one we pretend to have sometime for Jesus, has to be on 24X7. I apologize to all of you for not getting up out of the movie immediately after the nasty lead-ins...THAT is what I should have done...THAT would have been showing my light of/for Jesus. I know Jesus forgives me, but it seems He has been doing that a lot lately. Guess I am not into the Word enough. How about ya'll? Is YOUR light shining? Reply to this
August 16, 2008 9:45 PM
Michael wrote:
Maybe there was a reason you went to that movie. I have talked with some guys from church that want to go see that movie even I was interested in it. You think Ben Stiller and Jack Black,well thats going to be funny. Now that I have the knowledge that you gave I will not go to see it and I am sending out an e-mail to somes friends to give them the scoop.So just my spin on it but by you staying at the movie your light will shine to a number of people. Because when I tell my friends they will tell friends,family and so on. I love ya brother. Reply to this
August 16, 2008 10:16 AM
Tony wrote:
I wonder if the lamp still burns in the tabernacle somewhere? That would be interesting to see. I know my light does not shine, even on Sundays. Life is full of ups and downs and we must fight to do right even in the hardest times. What are some ways that we could let our light shine, any thoughts? Reply to this
August 16, 2008 8:22 PM
Rich wrote:
I do not let my light shine like I should either. All too often I remain quiet when I should speak up. I accept injustice and disrespect for God because I am afraid that if I say something, people will think bad of me. I do not see such cowardice in Jesus. I do not know how to make my light shine more, but I do know that with daily prayer, study, reflection, fighting against sin, we can become more like Jesus. Perhaps as we grow more like Jesus in our hearts, we grow more like him in our actions.
I think the battle between actions and heart is a lifelong struggle. We are given many, many "do not do" or "do do" lists in the Bible. But we are also told in many different ways to "protect our hearts." We are told to "live by the spirit" and to be like Jesus. We are told that salvation is not by works but we are told that we should do works of salvation and that we can test ourselves by observing our works.
I have heard preachers tell me to just do certain things and then my heart will follow and I have also been told to focus on getting my heart right and then my actions will follow. I have been told that sin in my life is the result of a bad heart and that sin in my life is the result of bad habits that I can change if I decide to work at it hard enough.
So, I do not know. I believe that God is much more concerned about our hearts than our actions, but if our hearts are good, our actions will be good also. I think that if our hearts were where they should be towards God, we would not sin (or at least little) and we would do good things and make Godly decisions. Perhaps the fact that we don't just shows that our hearts are not pure - but we know that is a fact. So, it means we have not yet arrived, that we need to continue to read, study, pray, share, and get help.
Instead of being beat down by not doing what we should (for example, Mac not leaving movie when he realized he was not letting his light shine by being there), perhaps we should use situations like that to motivate us to read, study, pray and share more.
August 16, 2008 9:32 PM
Michael wrote:
Rich, I think that is a good point. I think if you have a heart for Jesus then your actions will definely follow,especially being obedient with our spiritual disciplines.
As far as letting our light shine I can improve in areas as well. Maybe this week we can try to concentrate on being the light for everyone we meet,the places we go,our spouse,children etc...And right about any experiences we have. Anybody in? Reply to this
"Let your little light shine." ALthough Aaron and his sons are to keep the olive oiled lamps burning in the Tent of Meeting for generations, so should we keep our 'light burning' for our generation. I don't believe any of us do that really, really well. To be the light of Jesus, we should be acting like Him all the time, not just when we're reading the Bible. Take last night for example. My wife and I went to see Tropic Thunder. If you want to portray your life as being like Jesus, I would't go see it, OR rent the DVD. Language was terrible in it. Made fun of Blacks and people with learning disabilities. I was ashamed as I was getting up to leave, because I KNEW I, right then and there, was not a good representative of Jesus. Jesus would have condemned the movie like He did the money-changers in the Temple Yard. No, my 'little light of Jesus' did not shine last night. God tells Moses that the Tent of Meeting lamps would be lit for generations to come, and would not be shut off except during the day when light was not needed. Today, OUR light, that one we pretend to have sometime for Jesus, has to be on 24X7. I apologize to all of you for not getting up out of the movie immediately after the nasty lead-ins...THAT is what I should have done...THAT would have been showing my light of/for Jesus. I know Jesus forgives me, but it seems He has been doing that a lot lately. Guess I am not into the Word enough. How about ya'll? Is YOUR light shining?
Reply to this
No it isn't, but we will keep trying.
Reply to this
Maybe there was a reason you went to that movie. I have talked with some guys from church that want to go see that movie even I was interested in it. You think Ben Stiller and Jack Black,well thats going to be funny. Now that I have the knowledge that you gave I will not go to see it and I am sending out an e-mail to somes friends to give them the scoop.So just my spin on it but by you staying at the movie your light will shine to a number of people. Because when I tell my friends they will tell friends,family and so on. I love ya brother.
Reply to this
I wonder if the lamp still burns in the tabernacle somewhere? That would be interesting to see. I know my light does not shine, even on Sundays. Life is full of ups and downs and we must fight to do right even in the hardest times. What are some ways that we could let our light shine, any thoughts?
Reply to this
I do not let my light shine like I should either. All too often I remain quiet when I should speak up. I accept injustice and disrespect for God because I am afraid that if I say something, people will think bad of me. I do not see such cowardice in Jesus. I do not know how to make my light shine more, but I do know that with daily prayer, study, reflection, fighting against sin, we can become more like Jesus. Perhaps as we grow more like Jesus in our hearts, we grow more like him in our actions.
I think the battle between actions and heart is a lifelong struggle. We are given many, many "do not do" or "do do" lists in the Bible. But we are also told in many different ways to "protect our hearts." We are told to "live by the spirit" and to be like Jesus. We are told that salvation is not by works but we are told that we should do works of salvation and that we can test ourselves by observing our works.
I have heard preachers tell me to just do certain things and then my heart will follow and I have also been told to focus on getting my heart right and then my actions will follow. I have been told that sin in my life is the result of a bad heart and that sin in my life is the result of bad habits that I can change if I decide to work at it hard enough.
So, I do not know. I believe that God is much more concerned about our hearts than our actions, but if our hearts are good, our actions will be good also. I think that if our hearts were where they should be towards God, we would not sin (or at least little) and we would do good things and make Godly decisions. Perhaps the fact that we don't just shows that our hearts are not pure - but we know that is a fact. So, it means we have not yet arrived, that we need to continue to read, study, pray, share, and get help.
Instead of being beat down by not doing what we should (for example, Mac not leaving movie when he realized he was not letting his light shine by being there), perhaps we should use situations like that to motivate us to read, study, pray and share more.
Just a thought.
Reply to this
Rich,
I think that is a good point. I think if you have a heart for Jesus then your actions will definely follow,especially being obedient with our spiritual disciplines.
As far as letting our light shine I can improve in areas as well. Maybe this week we can try to concentrate on being the light for everyone we meet,the places we go,our spouse,children etc...And right about any experiences we have. Anybody in?
Reply to this
words are bouncing off my face tonight. I should have read thismorning.
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