Tuesday 22 Jul 2014

July 22: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:4
whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Devotion:
Just one more reminder. Just one more try… How many times are you willing to present the Gospel to someone else? How many times do you try to show people what God has opened up in your own life before you give up? Do you show others how good God is or do you show others how good the world is?

It is sometimes a fine line we tread between the world’s ways and God’s ways that some may question whether we are following Christ. The writer reminds us here that our lives are on show all the time and not just when we want them to be. It is a bit scary to look into just how little privacy we have in this modern world of technology; all that we do and say is potentially placed on display for the world to see. Much the same as leaving your curtains open all the time for everyone to see what is going on in your home… But somehow we don’t see it because we are buried in technology!

God wants us to be shining lights for Him so that we can encourage others to seek the truth for themselves. As Christians we should not try to shine as hard as we can because that is all that the people around us will see. What we should be doing is trying to make sure that what others see is a good reflection of Christ through us! It is Christ that people should be presented with and not us; giving people us may well chase them away instead of bringing them in!

When we try to shine for ourselves we find that people can reject us simply by comparing us to the world around us. We are nothing compared with the world around us. But when they see a reflection of Christ in us then they see something far more special than the world around us giving them hope. Don’t give people the world, give them the hope of Christ which will lift them out of the world!

Points to Ponder:
Are you trying to shine too bright?

Christ can shine through you if you allow Him to!