Light & Love

A friend and I were talking this morning about being Christ’s light to those around us and as we were talking, they said that there are times when we have opportunities to shine His light but we don’t take advantage of them. This is so true; I believe there are many times in our lives where God places an opportunity in front of us and we either ignore it or we take forever to take advantage of the opportunity.

There’s a song by the band NewSong called “Light Your World” and the lyrics go like this:

“Light your world, let the love of God shine through in the little things                                    you do. Light your  world…. Though your life may be reaching only two                                or three, light your world.”

There’s another song by Josh Wilson called “Dream Small” with the lyrics:

“Dream small! Don’t bother like you’ve gotta do it all, just let Jesus use                                   you where you are, one day at a time. Dream small! Live Well! Loving                                     God and others as yourself. Finding little ways where only you can help                                 with His great love. A tiny rock can make a giant fall. Dream small!”

Finally, Matthew 5:14 says, “You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden.”

There are many ways we can be God’s light to those around us. Taking the time to listen and pray with someone when they’re going through a tough time. Paying for the car behind you in the drive through. Volunteering at your church. Taking part in your church’s Christmas initiative if they have one. Helping a family who may not have the finances to have a Christmas dinner or Christmas gifts. These are only a few examples but there are so many opportunities to show Christ’s love, we just have to try not to miss them.

Matthew West’s Christmas song, “Give This Christmas Away,” talks about how if there’s “love in your heart, don’t let it stay there.” We need to be Christ’s love to everyone we meet, we need to let our love pour out of our heart into others.

My challenge for us is to go through the month of December and not let an opportunity pass by to show Christ’s love. You may be asking why I’m just challenging for the month of December and I can tell you it’s not just because it’s Christmastime, it’s because it’s a lot easier to say you’re going to do it for a month rather than the rest of your life. Take one day at a time, take one opportunity at a time, and don’t let the chance to light your world pass by. Let’s go and make this world as bright as we can with the light of Christ.