A Black Mark or a Glow?

Written by Julie Cosgrove

Take today’s next step: Join The Life and you’ll be inspired with new ways to let your light shine as you make Him known. 

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

Picture a large, white block shining in front of you. Just off-center, there’s a tiny dark spot. Off to the other side, you catch a glimpse of a glimmer. Which one captures your focus?

Our church is still in the growing stage. We rent facilities and use PowerPoint to display the words to the songs and hymns, the Scripture verses, and the prayers we say out loud. On the wall is a hole, or maybe it is a large black nail. Anyway, it is a black dot that is a bit larger than the PowerPoint period. It’s just enough to stand out and trip us up as our eyes scan the words.

The Greatest Gift is Love

1 Corinthians 13: 13, And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. NKJV

As Christians, our primary focus should be our personal relationship with the Father. Why do I say this? We have an adversary called the Devil that is just looking for an opportunity to attack our faith in Jesus. We can inadvertently open the door for Satan to pull us away from intimacy with Jesus through hurts... if we should place more importance on the gifts than on loving the Giver of those gifts. If you will meditate on the true purpose of a spiritual gift, you will soon realize that they were given to express God's love and grace to those who are in need of a touch from God.

We are ambassadors of God; we are also citizens of God's kingdom and are called to release the power of Christ into a fallen world. Jesus has commissioned us to go into the entire world and be witnesses to them of the power and the authority that we have as children of God in the name of Jesus. It is very easy to get caught up in the spiritual gifts and forget that we have an enemy who seeks to attack us so that he can discourage us from being salt and light in the world. Perhaps this is why the writer of Hebrews tells us to consider Jesus when suffering for the sake of the cross, lest we become discouraged in our souls and want to quit.