Monthly Archives: March 2023

Let your light shine before men. (Matthew 5:16)

The moon is a wonderful picture of a Christian. Just like the moon, which has no light of its own and reflects the light of the sun, Christians have no light of their own; they are to reflect the light of the Son. Read on and be encouraged today!

We live in a very dark world that desperately needs to see the light. Now, there is natural light that is needed to sustain physical life and there is the supernatural Light that is needed to sustain eternal life. Jesus Christ is the Light of the World; when we are in Christ, we are given the great privilege of reflecting His light for all the world to see (2 Corinthians 3:18). But there are two cosmic conditions that we see in nature which we must guard against in our own lives to make sure we do not obscure His light in any way from those who need to see it.

Solar Eclipse – When the moon comes between the sun and the earth, the moon blocks the light of the sun. This is the picture of the Christian who gets in the way of God, boasting, “Look at me and all I have done!” This person is building a monument to man’s glory, not God’s glory; he or she is no longer shining the reflected light of the Son. As the moon is the lesser light, we must remember we too are the lesser light. “Therefore, as it is written: ‘”‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord'” (1 Corinthians 1:31).

Lunar Eclipse – When the earth comes between the sun and the moon, the earth blocks the light of the sun. This is the perfect picture of worldliness. Jesus warned us in the parable of the soils not to be “the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). When the cares of this world capture our hearts and we get bogged down in the things of this world, we no longer reflect the glorious light of the Son.  

If we are going to be the moon God intends us to be and avoid what I call the believer’s blackout, we must keep our focus directly on the Son. By fixing our eyes on the Author and Perfecter of our faith, we will reflect His light into a dark world that needs Jesus for healing and sanity.

Let me offer you a final word of encouragement before we close. We are all different; thus we simply need to be the person God intends us to be and not try to be someone else. So if you are being yourself when reflecting the light of Jesus and you make some waves along the way, don’t fret about a negative response or let it water down your witness. The moon makes waves every day! Be a moonbeam believer and reflect the Son; what the moon is to the physical world, you are to the spiritual world.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Dear Kim,

I wish I had the right words to express how I truly feel in my heart after 30 years in God’s holy covenant of marriage with you. Some years were easy. Others were hard. We both know that I am not easy to live with. But I count every year with you as the greatest gift God has given me after salvation.

God has given us the grace to always team up together and never give up, and for that I am eternally grateful. You have been my best friend and my one true love in this life. I know that there have been too many times throughout our marriage when I have not demonstrated the patient, kind, selfless love that God calls us to, and for that I am truly sorry. I don’t know how many more anniversaries God will give us, but I do know this: For whatever time is left, I vow once again, as I did 30 years ago today, to love you with all my heart — for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live. To God be the glory for the incredible gift of being your husband!

I love you, Kim. As we celebrate this special day, I want to offer up the following prayer to the One who has kept us faithful to Him and to each other throughout all these years together.

Gracious Jesus,

Thank you for your love, mercy, and grace that has been sanctifying our marriage for the past 30 years. Without you sitting on the throne of our lives and always getting the last word, we would have ended up as another sad statistic. In those moments when we thought we had reached rock bottom, it was you who reminded us that you are the Rock we were standing on. I pray that you strengthen the bonds of our love for you and for each other in order to accomplish your purpose for marriage: to put the Gospel on display and to point others — especially our children — to you. As you laid down your life for us, help me to lay down my life for Kim — and in so doing, lift her up to your throne of grace as the cherished wife she is, bringing all honor, glory, and praise to your great name. Amen.

Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly. (Proverbs 14:29)

Did you hear the story about the man who went to his doctor to be tested for patience and the results came back negative? Those who know me best will tell you that I am that man far more often than I would care to admit. There seems to be nothing harder to do than to wait on God’s perfect timing in our imperfect lives.

Impatience is harmful in so many ways. It harms us physically. It harms us emotionally. It harms us mentally. And it harms us spiritually. Every relationship in our lives is negatively impacted by our impatience. Our Scripture verse for today show us how impatience can turn into the folly of man-centered, unrighteous, sinful anger. Yet there is great hope for all of us who struggle with impatience.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Patience from a biblical perspective bears up under a burden and remains steadfast in the midst of trying and difficult circumstances. Patience is the power to live totally surrendered to the will of God, especially when His will makes no sense to us. And this power is given to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The patient person keeps focused on Christ, not his or her circumstances. The patient person lives in the light of eternity, knowing that God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him. The patient person leaves room for God to work in His way, in His time, and for His ultimate glory. In others words, the patient person lets God be God!

Is your life marked by patience or folly? Remember, patience does not come naturally to us. We are impatient by sinful nature, both vertically with God and horizontally with the people in our lives . . . even with ourselves. That is why we must keep Jesus on the throne of our lives, allowing Him to work His will in His way and in His timing, knowing that He who began a good work in us will one day bring it to completion.

The popular saying, “Patience is a virtue” is true. Whatever you might be facing today that is testing your patience, take it to Jesus and He will give you everything you need to bear up under it with freedom, joy, and faithfulness to Him.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you.” (Mark 10:28)

Jesus was speaking to the rich young man and teaching about the kingdom of God (Mark 10:17-23). Peter, who was never at a loss for words, piped up and uttered perhaps the greatest statement on surrender in all of sacred Scripture. I am not sure how many of us can honestly say what Peter said to Jesus: “Lord, we have left everything to follow you!” Yet when we truly surrender our lives to Jesus, we will discover a special blessing that can only be found on the other side of surrender.

C. S. Lewis put it this way: “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become—because he made us.”

To surrender is to say “Yes” to God and “No” to everyone and everything else. On the other hand, to say “No” to God is to deny our own humanity, which is exactly what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. They refused to surrender to God (to depend, trust, and count on Him), and they plunged all of creation into a tailspin of brokenness. But God did not leave them (or us) in our brokenness. The perfect, surrendered Savior was already on His way to reverse the curse brought on by Adam and Eve’s act of cosmic treason. 

The surrendered life of our Savior teaches us that surrender to God is not a passive resignation that leads to a life of fatalism and accepting the status quo. The surrendered life is the life that is offered and available to be used by God — whenever and wherever He chooses — even when it doesn’t make sense to us.

Surrender did not make sense to Moses, but he was obedient to God’s call and went back to Egypt to deliver God’s people out of bondage. Surrender did not make sense to Saul as he was persecuting the first-century church, but he was obedient to God’s call and went on to write over half of the New Testament as the apostle Paul.

So let me ask you this: Where in your life is God calling you to surrender . . . but you are resisting because it simply doesn’t make sense to you? William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, said, “The greatness of a man’s power is in the measure of his surrender.” On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your power as it relates to your surrender to your Savior? Personally? Professionally? Relationally?

Look at it this way:

Everyone surrenders to something!

If you are not living a life surrendered to God, you are most certainly living a life surrendered to something smaller than God. For many, that “something” can be found on the following list: power, prestige, position, prosperity, and pleasure. Resolve today to surrender, as Peter did, and leave everything behind and follow Him. Truly, there is no sweeter life that we can be living! 

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!