Our Light

Now, God asks us to lay down our lives on His altar as a living sacrifice. Just as it was in the Old Testament, our sacrifice, once offered, cannot be reclaimed. We belong entirely to Him. We cannot make a partial sacrifice of our lives; our offering must be wholehearted. Therefore, if you are a Christian, your life is not your own. Rather than dying, however, God asks you to live for Him as a living sacrifice. Every day, you are to offer your life to Him for His service. You do not serve Him in your spare time or with your leftover resources. The way you live your life for God is your offering to Him. Relentlessly pursue holiness so that your offering to God is unblemished and acceptable to Him (Eph. 4:1; Phil. 1:27; 1 Thess. 2:12).
- Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day

How often does your life reflect your relationship with Jesus?

How often do you wake up and think about Him?

How often to you go about your day with Jesus?

Truth is He is with you all the time.

What does it mean to be a Christian? It's to be a Disciple of Christ.  Christ follower.
Someone who represents Christ. A reflection of Christ.

The moon is a reflection of the Sun.
It doesn't produce light, it can only redirect the light given to it.

We are to be the ones to follow Christ, to be a representation of Him.  Our speech, love and conduct is to mirror His.

As Blackaby points out, there is no looking at your life any other way.

What effort does this require?  Everything.

Do you ever just find yourself hearing a worship song in your heart and just follow along?

Do you realize Jesus knows that you do and it brings Him joy?

Do you realize your walk, your speech your conduct in your day, from the moment you get up until you go back to sleep is to be a reflection of Christ?

What do you let your eyes see?

How do you work?  Do you give your all?
Do you find excuses not to give your all?
Do you justify your actions?  Nobody's gonna notice.  God does.

Colossians 3:23-24 NASB "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."

What is your integrity? It's what you do, how you think and how you are when nobody's looking.

Do you indulge in things of this life and leave Jesus out?

Many do. In fact most people do.

Our lives are not our own. We were bought with a price.

A song I remember from my younger years has lines in it about the road we are on towards Heaven having all kinds of off ramps.  So easy to get off for a while.  So incredibly difficult to get back on.

It indeed is like the race that Paul speaks of.  Consider how it affects a runner who wants to win but has hecklers, has temptations and at times nobody there to cheer him on. What does it do to them?
How does it speed them up or slow them down?  A word of encouragement goes a lot farther than is expected.  Also too a word of discouragement can go farther.
A distraction of the eyes can stop a runner.  Yet another can motivate them to press on.

You are that runner.

You are in a world of more distractions than of probably any other time in history.

We have more ways to describe our justification of what we do than ever before.

It is incredible.  Yet consider where this began.

Jesus is the Light. We are a reflection of Christ.

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Not enough light causes blindness. Too much causes blindness.  The right amount causes clear vision.  Satan blinds the minds of the unbeliever.  Those who reflect the light of Christ show the truth of life.

So how do you live your life? 
Do you indulge in things less than honorable to your calling?  Do you justify your actions in the name of 'fun'?
You 'didn't mean to' but you sat and watched a show that made a mockery of sin?
You swore at a guy in the car near yours.
You were angry at someone for something they said.  Or you wasted hours that could have been spent better with Jesus?  Did you automatically go to What's the fun in THAT?  I deserve to relax!  I deserve... Wow.  I deserve.

Really, we deserve a death sentence.

We don't deserve anything. We are granted a life, air to breathe and are given a purpose by God in this life. 

I can't be that serious all the time!

Go back to the Gospels.  Really look at the life of Christ.  There's many times Jesus wasn't serious all the time.  He DID invent joy and laughter after all.

How many readers will spend hour upon hour at a sporting event or movie yet won't give Jesus 1 hour? 

That's between you and God.

Of course there's things you have to do every day.  Yet keep in mind Colossians 3:23-24. 

I go into work WITH Jesus. I don't leave Him in the car. 

I come home WITH Jesus.  He doesn't sit on my back porch until I need Him.

I can't reflect Christ without exposure to Christ.

I can't learn how to without watching Him.
Talking to Him.  Being with Him.

Consider that today.