The Lord Jesus calls His followers to be the “Light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).
Every believer has what it takes to be a shining light: in our marriage, in our family, at work, at school, in our neighborhood, and in our community. Christ, who is the Light of the world, dwells in each follower. Lighting our world is simply a matter of letting Christ shine through us. As it is the nature of a light bulb to give light, so it’s the nature of a Christian to shine. Turn on your own light and see darkness flee.
Galen TeSelle testifies:
A few years ago, I read a book called I’m Gonna Let It Shine!by Dr. James Montgomery, the founder of Dawn Ministries, a world-wide church planting organization. It’s an excellent book, which I highly recommend.
For me, one of the most memorable sentences in the book was this statement by Dr. Montgomery … “When it comes to revival, we are often waiting for God to show up and do the miraculous while God is waiting for us to show up and do the obvious.” He goes on to say, “We don’t need a new call from God. We need to stop looking to others and be obedient to the first call ourselves.”
And what is that “first call”? It’s what Jesus said in response to the question what is the greatest commandment? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength … and love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:30-31.
How Do I Best Love My Neighbor?
We can best love our neighbors (which can be persons in our neighborhood, but also anyone we are in contact with a work, school, playground, traveling, etc.) by modeling the life, teachings, and love of Jesus with them. We believe Jesus’s model of interacting with others is by praying for them, caring for them, and then sharing how they can experience the joy of belonging to His Kingdom now and the eternal Kingdom of the new heaven and the new earth to come.
Three Elements of Shining Our Light
Prayer is to be made for all people. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective – Refer to I Timothy 2:1 and James 5:16
Caring demonstrates God’s love in practical ways. – Refer to 1 John 3:18 and parable of the Good Samaritan
Sharing proclaims the Good News about Jesus, how we can repent, receive, and believe in Jesus … become a child of God and belong to His Kingdom. – Refer to Mark 1:15, John 1:12-13 and John 3:16
PRAYER– Praying by name, for neighbors, schoolmates, or co-workers; asking for specific prayer needs, praying that God might begin to draw the unsaved to Himself. Followers of Jesus are also involved in prayer walking or praying with other believers. Click here to visit our Prayer page.
CARE– Showing kindness by being helpful and hospitable; meeting physical needs; connecting people with the various care ministries of the Christian churches in the area; helping to build and restore broken relationships. Click here to visit our Care page.
SHARE– Sharing your personal testimony and the hope and light that is within you in gentleness and with respect; having a discussion about the nature of man and the nature of God and how our sinful nature can be reconciled with God’s righteousness. Click here to visit our Share page.