Day 36

“Work hard to show the results of your salvation… For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him… Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in the world full of crooked and perverse people.” Phil. 2:15-16 (NLT)

Have you ever been in a night-time situation where you urgently needed a flashlight only to discover that the batteries were dead? Our world is in dire need of some light these days, don’t you agree? Is the Church prepared to give it?

The Christian life should be different from the non-Christian life, as different as night and day! We live in a dark, oppressive, self-seeking world. But God is working in us to produce humility, compassion, generosity, and forgiveness—qualities that shine brightly in the gloom of greed and hatred.

God’s forgiveness is an absolutely free gift; we don’t do anything to earn or deserve it. We are saved by grace, apart from any effort on our part.  But God is working to transform us from the inside out, to give us “brilliant” lives that bring honor to him.

Let’s become people who look like Jesus, a community of love that brings light to the dark corners of this world.

Dear Jesus,

We honor You as the Light of the World.  Help us to be that light today. Allow Your light to shine through us that others may see You.  Please put someone in my path today and help me to light up their way for You. Amen. 

-Alan Crandall