*Back to our regularly scheduled series: You WILL Shine!
“The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.”
[Proverbs 13:9]
Our series is coming to a close, and I pray you’ve learned about the ways in which God has created you to shine or the ways in which He desires to shine on and through you.
Today, we will ask ourselves critical questions about how brightly our lamp shines for the Lord.
What gets in the way of your ability to illuminate?
- Busyness? I often find myself caught between a large to do list, mental and physical, wondering how I’ll tackle each task item with efficiency and purpose. I’m just wired that way. I like to get things gone; I also like to list things out (obviously, look at the structure of this devotional, lol!)
- Sometimes, this gets in the way. Tasks and to-dos get in the way of letting God shine through my day because it doesn’t always leave room for Him to move through me. Sisters, if we want to be obedient to God we have to be flexible. I’m learning this in my current life’s season. I have to loosen up and let God weave in a few opportunities, relationships and tasks as He sees fit. When we are exceedingly busy with our own initiatives, God’s glory is limited and we snuff out His light, we snuff out His Spirit.
- Family? Family is a beautiful gift from God. If you have a biological family, a foster family, a church family or a group of friends who have become family, you know how consuming these relationships can be.
- Undoubtedly we love our families, but sometimes we elevate our families over God. It can happen so subtly if we aren’t careful. The Bible says in Matthew 10:37, “”Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” God must come first in our lives and there will be occasions where God will ask you to step out on faith or off of a particular path for a moment to shine your light on another person’s path. If we are always tending to our families we risk missing opportunities to tend to another type of family: the family of God.
- Your future? The future is a scary, intriguing place but if we calculated the amount of time we spend planning, thinking or hoping for the future we’d see there’s a huge disconnect between what we’re doing and what we’re hoping to do. If we are spending too much time thinking about the future we are wasting today.
- James 4:13-15 reminds us, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” We cannot snuff out today with plans for tomorrow. Each day will take care of itself. There is enough godliness in this moment, we just have to see it.
If we want to live as women who illuminate the world we have to identify the areas in our life where we are snuffing God out. Being obedient to God means we are allowing Him to shift His spirit inside of us and stir a good work up a work that will shine in front of others. God’s glory desires to shine and you are the lamp. Own it, sister-friend!
I pray you have been blessed and encouraged. I hope you are ready and willing to shine. Shine on!
#tobepraised
