I would like to base my devotion "How to Involve the Body of Christ in the World" on a scripture from The Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus is speaking:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven. Matthew 5: 14-16
Jesus came to the earth, in the form of man, to shed light to the world so men might see God through Him. Christians are to shine for Jesus' sake, or in other words, to carry on Jesus' message of hope and love to the world. Jesus is saying that we, as Christians, are the light of the world.
Man is to be the bearer of eternal light. Man is to let his
light so shine that other men shall see the light and give glory to God. We as
Christians must radiate God’s light through Jesus, for Jesus and God are one.
As Christians we sometimes feel that we have to debate with
ourselves whether or not to love, to hope, or to perform any other action which
shows Christ’s light in us. We often feel that we must hide the fact that we are
Christians.
The sun warms the earth with light and we too as Christians must
show our Christian love by gathering and reflecting light from Christ to the
world around us.
As a college freshman, life on campus is new, exciting, and presents
challenges. The biggest challenge is to live as Christians - showing Christ’s
light. We have been reared in Christian homes, but now we are on our own and it
is difficult at times to remain a shining light. We are set in a new world of
changing forces surrounding us. I guess you might say we had been in a
protected world through high school, but now we are faced by an open new world.
In a church related college, the students have a common
background, but at a state college such as Towson State College, it is more of
a challenge because of the varied backgrounds of the students. It is more of a
challenge to shine our light as a Christian.
I have picked a few examples that I have observed on my own
campus relating to the new world in which we are faced.
1) The first is going to church on Sunday. At college you
don’t have your parents encouraging you every Sunday morning and it is easier
to just not go, for many. But I have found that those of us who do go set an
example for others to follow.
2) Second is taking the Lord’s name in vain. It stops me short when I hear this going on, but I have found that setting an example of yourself and not using it is the best remedy for people that notice.
The whole idea of showing light is based on setting an
example for others by the way we carry out our lives. If we can live a life as
a Christian, we are showing others the Christian life – thus involving Christ
in the world. I have found that the people at college who live a Christian life
and involve Christ in their everyday life tend to be looked up to and followed
by others. (I went to Towson State College in Baltimore, Maryland, and belonged
to a Christian Fellowship group.)
When the lights go out, confusion results but when they resume,
things go back to order. This can be related to us as Christians. If we turn
out our light of Christian love and hope, then the world will be in confusion.
Let’s keep our light burning for Jesus – setting an example for others is
letting our light of Christian love and hope shine.
~Susan Taylor, adapted herself from an essay she wrote in
1965, during her freshman year in college. Susan found this recently when
cleaning out storage areas.
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