Jesus said we are to be a light in the world. He said we are not to hide our light under a bushel, but let it shine. Are there any of us who play the game of Christianity in a different way? For instance, if Christianity were a football game and the goal was to show people how Christianity helps us become more joyful, less judgmental, more peaceful (especially in chaotic situations), how many of us come out of the huddle, grab the ball and run back to the bench, cradling the ball protectively. We are fearful of running with it, preferring to stay on the bench where we are safe but, if we don't follow through on our Christian duty, we inadvertently stop others from running with it, too.

It certainly is more comfortable playing Christian football this way. We don't have to deal with anyone who would try to snatch the ball from us, or curse us, or resist us, or cause us to be uncomfortable in any way. But is this fair to the world? Do we, somehow think that Christ's light, in us, isn't that important? Or isn't capable of shining away the darkness around us?

If we believe Jesus, who dwells in us, desires to shine His light through us only as we sit on the bench with the other Christian players, we have invented a Jesus who cowers, who is weak, and who submits Himself to the world very cautiously.

The Jesus Christ I know comes out of the huddle, grabs the ball and runs with it. He does this through us at our invitation. Our invitation is initially weak because we don't trust God enough yet. But as we continue to put our trust in Him in all things, like the mustard seed, our trust grows and Jesus' light, which is now our light, shines brighter and brighter as we run with the ball, miraculously dodging the obstacles coming at us, until we stand triumphant in Christ, leaping enthusiastically and joyfully, in the end zone. Our goal, we realize, was not to cradle the Christian ball in our arms and protect it by running back to the bench to hang out with all the other Christian players. Our goal was to take the ball and run toward the goal with Christ's light shining ever brighter, through us.

If we fail to make a decision allowing Christ's presence to permeate our lives, we discourage ourselves and we walk with heavy hearts in this world, defeated and down. However, if we eagerly rejoice in these times when Christ's strength is proven in us, we begin to build spiritual muscle. Because we desire this, we can be motivated to catalog the times He's come through for us, triumphantly. Initially, the results will be hardly noticeable, a grouch smiles, a baby laughs, someone's bad day turns good because we listened to the Holy Spirit's voice in us and found He supplied us with the right thing to say, the right thing to do, the right place to be.

In time, however, with persistence born of His light and truth becoming more and more revealed in us, the knowledge that Christ's light and truth in us has no limitations begins to dawn and be made manifest in our lives. Now there is no darkness that can cover us, no appearance of death that can cause us to lose our grip on Christ's reality in us. Now, with steel eyes and a knowing smile and a firm grip on Christ's hand, the world becomes a piece of cake. It is no longer a terrifying, wriggling boa constrictor desiring to squeeze the life from us, but merely a garter snake, more afraid of us than we are of it, because we bring from within, the only true light and truth there is: Christ.

This is running toward the goal. This is what we want to do.

If we stand afraid of evil in the world, afraid that Christ's strength won't be enough or that He cannot be effective unless we help Him, we have created a wimpy Christ that does not even come close to resembling the Jesus of the Bible. Is it possible we have committed this atrocity?

If we stand, judging a group of people, unable to enter in comradeship with them because our own hearts are laden with how evil we think they are and how far off the mark they are, then we have focused our ears and eyes on Satan, who jumps with joy when we take appearances and assume them to be the truth. Jesus, however, told us not to judge by appearances.

When we do this, we have made, in our minds, an untrue “truth”. Once we've done this, it is very difficult because of our pride, to turn around and run with the ball in the proper direction toward Christ's goal. It means we have chosen, instead, to cower from the appearance of evil and, in trying to save our lives, we will, in the long run, lose our lives (as the Word points out). Is this what we really want to do?

It is possible we can be so frightened of this world's appearances, that rather than even attempt to walk with Christ, which would in the long run, be a triumphant walk, we build huge defense mechanisms designed to give us reasons why it is okay to shun, ignore or otherwise treat with disgust other hurting and/or potential members of the body of Christ. A defense mechanism can be anger, fear, repulsion, or even strong desires to kill, believing wholeheartedly that if we don't do that to them, they will surely do that to us. Is this what Jesus of the Bible, did?

No! He told us to “resist not evil” and, when evil came upon Him in the form of His painful journey to the cross where, before dying, He forgave everyone, there was not one ounce of resistance from the obvious wrongs that were being committed against this Holy Son of God. He cried out for those who committed this senseless act against Him and asked God for their mercy; He didn't cry out from the cross and ask God for vengeance! Nor did He cry out and ask God to correct everyone. He forgave all and announced his mission finished. Then He gave up His spirit, knowing He had accomplished what He came to do—redeem man.

The impact of Jesus' death and resurrection on the world has been nothing short of miraculous. It took great power to walk this earth in sinlessness. It took great character to not be tempted by the snares of Satan and this world. It took tremendous strength to love the hateful. It took amazing compassion to forgive the human race and endurance to withstand the pain of the cross—especially as He was one so undeserving of death. But even death could not stop Christ, as He overcame it. Can Christ, who we claim resides in us, have the same impact in our lives today? Or is this idea, though biblical, a pipe dream, untrue and impossible? What did Christ mean when He said, "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world?" if He did not mean that He did this IN you and me?

Christ is not a wimp. His strength is real and mighty and dynamic. If you don't believe it, try and do what He did. No one else has and no one else can offer themselves to save mankind. He is the ONLY way. Our Savior is mighty!! If you are not a Christian, you are missing out on so much. There is no other way to overcome this world than through Christ. We are to be of good cheer because He did overcome it.

We are free to speak the joyful truth of salvation without judgment. Why don't we? Are we Christians who are unsure of our beliefs? Are we easily tempted by people in other religions or people who have no grounding in the truth as Christ taught and demonstrated it? If we are weak in our faith, we may decide to run from those who might tempt us to come over to their way of thinking. All this does is confirm our weakness. It makes us know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that in this world there are groups of people with whom we cannot associate because we are weak and they are strong.

Jesus says to resist not evil and if we find ourselves in the midst of it, we must know that God put us there to strengthen our faith, to make Christ's light shine brighter through us. He didn't put the evil there so that He might cruelly put out our light. He did not put the evil there so that we could fight it. Nor did He put the evil there so that we might run from it. Resist not evil means, like a tree, bending with the wind, we gracefully ask for the Lord's help that we might love those who are treating us so shabbily, encourage them who abuse us, help them who would emotionally batter us, and, if not today, if not tomorrow, then in time known only to God, the seed of love and grace and mercy that Christ was able to plant through our willing hearts, will grow and mature in them. It is inevitable. It is the great Commission we were assigned. It is the only way Jesus' message of salvation can reach people. It cannot be taught by those who fail to accept Him in their hearts; those who fail to allow Him to be a living and viable source of strength in their lives. Truthfully, Christ's love, in action, is all we want and all we need. This is seeking first the kingdom so that all our other needs will be met!

If the Jesus Christ we are following is weak and afraid of others who are of different or of no religious affiliation; if the Jesus Christ we are following is asking us to fight against those who oppress us and persecute us and annoy us; if the Jesus Christ we are following says we must build huge churches where we can all hang out together and keep the stinking sinners as far away from our comfortable little tombs as possible, then we are following, not Christ, but the anti-Christ.

As the time of His return draws near, we would desire with all our hearts to draw others into the loving and forgiving arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We can't do this by showing, through our lives that He is a weakling, with no power, no joy, and no love to speak of. In truth, Christ is joyful, powerful, and filled with life. He overcame even death for us. And Christ is so loving, that He chose to give His life for us on the cross, knowing it was God's will that He do this.

God sent His Son, Jesus, into this fallen world to show us the way, the truth and the life. We, now, must live His way, truth and life so that others, trotting along behind us on the path, will come to know Him and trust Him and rely on Him just as we do. God encourages us to care about each other and love each other, as He loves us. He does not want us to struggle in this world as we futilely try to accomplish our spiritual goals alone.

He has given us the mirrors of one another, which reflect the deepest defects of our own hearts. We can ignore this information and constantly try to make the world a fit and comfortable place to live by correcting the injustices we see all around us but, in a short time, we will recognize how constantly defeated we appear to be. This is because we are scratching at the mirror and trying to correct a problem that doesn't exist outside us at all. I understand this is against all worldly logic, but why would we want to work with worldly logic? It has not succeeded in accomplishing anything of eternal value, has it?

Perhaps it is worthwhile to see and, at last, understand that true forgiveness of the injustices that have happened to us, corrects OUR hearts and makes us suitable vehicles through which Christ can, at last, shine His eternal love, light and peace drawing all men unto Him. This is our only true goal in this world! And we accomplish this goal when we have stopped scratching at the mirror, vainly attempting to fix everything. We accomplish this goal when we have turned within and asked God to forgive others completely, so that not a trace of the sin that was committed against us, remains.

When we no longer see through a mirror darkly, because our willingness to forgive has allowed God to wipe away the smudges and stains of sin in our hearts, we actually will see a forgiven world and Christ's light will no longer be dim in us. Can we imagine such a thing? What would the world be like if we followed Christ to such a degree? Such is what will be for eternity. Let's practice for it, now. Think for just a minute what the world would be like. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, true at last. Oh, glory!

Back

TOC

Next