Early morning is my favorite time of day. There is just enough daylight that I can effortlessly see what I am doing. It's such an inviting time of the day. However by the time I leave for work the sun is so bright and positioned just so that sometimes it is very difficult to see ahead of me even with my shades on. During these times I have to be extra careful and even slow down a bit so that I don't find myself in a dangerous situation, like running a red light.
As I thought about this it made me think about our light, as Christians, and how we are called to let our light shine. When I recall Jesus' approach He had a way of drawing people to Him that was so gentle and non-condemning that they could not help but desire to be in His presence even if they felt convicted regarding His words.
You may have heard the saying "glow don't glare" or "shine don't blind" and I think this is valuable advice for us as Christians. We have gotten a bad rap over the years trying to shine our light so brightly that we make it difficult for anyone to see Who and what that light is. These are times when people complain that we, as Christians, are trying to force feed the non-believer, which sadly makes them more inclined to find no interest in what we want to share, especially people who know us. People have no desire to change their lives based on the words we share if our lives do not reflect them. If Christ lives in you then He is the light that shines through you, like the early morning sun that does not obscure what is necessary for us to see, people are drawn to that. I want to be the kind of light that allows others to see that the best part of me is not me at all but Christ who lives in me. I want my light to be bright enough to notice that there is something about me that they would like to know more about, but not so bright that they never see Who or What makes the difference in my life because they hear it but don't see it.
Your light shines because of the changes that happens when we invite Jesus into our lives. He comes in and begins to transform us from the inside out as we surrender to have more of Him and less of me. This is the beauty of having a relationship with Christ, HE makes those changes, without us having to worry about the list of do's and don'ts of being a Christian. That is the light they need to see and not the glare from our words that often times makes people run the other way because rather we mean to or not, some Christians have a tendency to project a "better that thou" attitude, forgetting that we are all sinners, and all fall short and His love for us is not dependent upon our acceptance of His truth, He loves the sinner and the believer period. His love is the light.
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