Are you a follower of Christ? As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." When you ask Jesus to be Lord of your life, your life should change. Some folks may have dramatic testimonies but for most it is a turning away from the old lifestyle where Jesus was not first place in your life. Once he is on the throne of your life,as He should be, do you live for him and honor him? Is the light of Jesus radiating from you or is your light hid under a bushel somewhere? Are you embarrassed to say you are a Christian and think that you should not talk about 'churchy' things in certain settings? Do you do the 'headache prayer' in restaurants where you pray with hand on head nonchalantly hoping no one sees? Mark 8:38 says "if we are ashamed of him he will be ashamed of us." Ouch.
Matthew 5:16 says for us to "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Do the things you do on a regular basis bring glory to God or shame? Some examples would be the movies you watch, the places you go, the books you read, the music you listen to and the things you believe in or perhaps the company you keep. We are to be his witnesses but we are not to be sucked into things that are not good for us. God does not expect us to give up the entire secular world but he wants us to be salt and light when we are there and have an impact. After all that is what he did and was criticized for it. Luke 7:34 says "The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!" Bible teacher Joyce Meyer says "we should affect people and don't let them infect you."
One way to keep yourself from some questionable activities that perhaps would not bring glory to God or please Him is to ask yourself if Jesus were here with me would you take him with you?" Sort of the thing the "what would Jesus do" movement emphasized. In effect you are taking him, as once you ask Christ into your life he lives in you. Would God want to go see a slasher movie for instance or movies with total nudity and sex scenes? Or would he want to hang out at the bar and get drunk? These things are not being said to condemn but to make you think. We should desire purity in all areas of our lives. We need to be there and be strong in order to help those weak people who are fallen to get back up again, so to speak. To stay strong and be able to do this we should be knowledgeable of what God's word says. There is so much in there that covers just about every situation in life. And it is true! Skeptics try to tell us otherwise and then even some well meaning believers might say only parts are true or we should only follow the New Testament. To know the Bible you have to pick it up, dust it off and read it.
So go out in this hurting world and shine for Jesus!
PRAYER: Father I want to be a shining light for you. I know wherever I go you want me to let the light of Jesus shine and illuminate the dark places around me. Forgive me when I only have a glimmer and let me be a spotlight for you. In Jesus Name, Amen!
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