Skip to main content

Let light shine out of darkness ...

 
"The Church, and the world, desperately need men and women who practice the presence of God" ... at least that was my conclusion recently after having heard someone speaking who clearly spent time in the presence of the Lord. There were no whistles, bells, complex arguments, sophisticated powerpoints or hyped up human oratory, rather a simple, humble message by a godly man.

Very powerful!

In 2 Corinthians 4:6 the apostle Paul writes "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness', made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ."

I was once darkness and even now, whilst in the process of increasingly understanding how complete I am in Christ, there are still areas of darkness. Yet His light continues to shine, just as He has decreed! What grace ... He get's the glory for it is HIs light that shines ... Christ in me through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Can we see light, or do we see what the light reveals? The light, which is unseen and eternal, reveals that which is seen and temporal, the hidden is revealed as it is brought into the light.

Paul reveals this mystery that God works both in us and through us. The light revealing what is going on in us - the hope we have, the sanctification He is working in us, the action that He is inspiring us to - all this works towards His goal and purpose to direct light into ever increasing numbers of people.

If we want 'fruitful' lives then we must be as open and willing to 'let' God work in us as we are trusting Him to work through us in the lives of others - this is surrender.
This 'tent', this mortal body, clothing the immortal, the finite clothing the infinite, the groaning, longing and hungering we experience for the day when this tension will be overcome forever. Notwithstanding the 'limitation' that we currently experience, though recognised is is no hindrance to our service - for the limitation becomes the 'model' or 'type' that shows the world the truth of the gospel. A bridge between the imperfect and the perfect.

Press on in faith!

Comments

Post a Comment

Feel free to add comments or ask questions:

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts from a previous incumbent ...

In reference to 2 Tim 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of p o wer, of love a nd of sel f-discipli ne."   Norman Grubb decl are d that; "We are set in our day and generation to be overcomers, not to sail through calm seas but to walk on storms, to replace need with supply, to transform aspiration into realization. The language of defeatism, fear, lack and weakness is not to be in our vocabulary. "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. As for these giants, they are bread for us," we say with sturdy Caleb.  We are to act as the men of faith of old; we are to visualize our goal in clear outline; we are to take it for granted that we shall reach it, for we have both the commission and anointing of God?   We lay our plans ,build our organisations, produce our written and verbal pronouncements,  prayer our prayers, do our work, not as those who will fail and fall by the way, but...
2 comments
Read more

What is poverty?

I have been very exercised recently for a number of reasons; 1/ Extended conversations with my teenage children about Sex trafficking (Initiated by the recent LZ7 track!) 2/ The dialogue online concerning the relative merits of Kony2012 campaign. 3/ Spending a morning praying for Street Children in Senegal (Talibes) and Prostitutes in Cambodia. 4/ Recently listening to a Dr M Loyd-Jones podcast - in which he refers to the state of 'apostasy' that the Church had got itself into at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th Century, as it cared so much for social, justice and poverty issues that it ceased to preach the gospel. (His words of course!) Now, where do my kids find their place in the midst of all of this? Our discussion centred around how meaningful is it to download a track and feel justified that you are doing something about sex trafficking? Is that simply consumer activism ... would we be so concerned to spend our 69p if we weren't getting a download out ...
4 comments
Read more

Labels

Who are you? I have never been a great fan of labels when it comes to describing members of the body of Christ. eg. he is anglican, she is Baptist, they are Charismatic, etc. etc. I remember once causing a man to become increasingly hot under the collar when he asked me who I was? To which I replied I was a disciple (follower) of Jesus. He was meaning which Church did I attend (presumably so he could classify me and decide whether I was bona fide or not) and my answer did not bring him peace, but I refused to go any further.  Why? Because, as I said, I am not a great fan of labels, but also because for me there is a very important distinction between primarily identifying myself with Jesus and identifying myself with Church. Of course, I recognise that by becoming a follower of Jesus I become part of the body of Christ, but that can be very distinct from being a member of a Church. To me this is the crucial difference between vibrant faith and dusty religion.  ...
1 comment
Read more