Recently I was fortunate enough to spend time with a very good friend (we’ll call him Dave), one of my favorite people in the whole world. This friend is someone I learn a lot from, both in positive and negative situations.
Dave faced a hardship in our time together. His mood quickly changed from joy to sadness, it was so obvious, like a darkness had come over him. As a friend, an observer, I was able to witness it first hand from the onset.
The thing was, the hardship wasn’t that bad. What was bad was Dave’s response to the hardship. Initial pain turned to anxiety, anxiety turned to fear, fear turned to anger, and the anger manifested itself through words and spread into other thoughts like a contagious disease for himself and those around him.
As I watched Dave go through this I realized these are similar stages we all can go through when something bad happens. The enemy tries to deceive us into thinking the worst, that all is lost, that we can never recover. He tries to bring us into darkness. He wants us to lean on ourselves instead of Jesus, the light of the world.
33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. (Luke 11:33)
This passage has Jesus encouraging us to let our light shine, and point to him as our savior, and our Father God as the all powerful creator. We have the choice to allow him to shine through or to choose darkness in our minds and hearts… Let him shine today!
34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.” (Luke 11:34-36)
Today’s Psalm: Psalm 98