You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16 NASB2020
I was walking in the woods near my childhood home today and I noticed a stream. The water was so clear you could see straight to the bottom. It was almost as if the water was invisible except for the movement on the surface. The stream was pure and clear because it was always moving.
I walked a little further and came to a marsh where the water pooled. Instead of crystal clear water, it was overgrown with whatever grows in stagnant water. The surface was covered with greenery, who knows what lurked beneath.
So it is with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we are being poured out in loving service to those around us, our lives are transparent. There is no confusion that God’s love is overflowing in our hearts and being shared with others.
Conversely, if we do nothing with our faith, our lives grow stagnant. The cares of this world choke out the space where loving others should be.
But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith.
1 Timothy 1:5 NASB2020
Love is more than a feeling. It is an intention that gives birth to action. Before you can love others the way God loves, you must first let Him fill your cup to overflowing. Do you trust that Our Father loves you? Settle that issue in your heart first and foremost. Then you will be able to obey His leading to love others in real and practical ways.
When we help others in their spiritual walk, or with earthly matters, we are letting the Christ in us shine forth. God is light. His love flows like a river. Are you stagnant or flowing? Are you loving and growing?
Everyone of us is useful to God when we let His Spirit flow through us effortlessly like rivers of living water. Let His love guide you in service to others. Not a program, not a duty, nor an obligation. Simply you, being you, as the Lord created you to be. Find yourself in Him.
Father, fill our hearts to overflowing with the love you have for us. Amen.
…but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:15-16 NASB2020
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