When in control of self, we might do many good things,
but we will never cast light on a dark and dying world?
How's your light shining?

It is so essential that we allow God complete control in our lives and do not permit ourselves to simply perform acts of Christian service for the praise of man.  An important scripture passage we must keep in mind is Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it (the good work) until the day of Jesus Christ:"

I often speak with church members who confess to be apathetic to the things of Christ.  In all cases, they are in control of their service opportunities.  Oh, they may attend church, give tithes, occasionally volunteer for the nursery, and do a myriad of good things; however, it is being done in their own power.  It is simply done through their personal performing, not His actual transforming!  Though He began the work within them, there is no spiritual growth at this stage, because they refuse to cease from self-control and yield to His control.  They often will get so frustrated with the lack of appreciaton or public affirmation of their service work that eventually they resign themselves to just sit, soak, and sour on the pews for decades.  I see dozens of men in my church who were bus drivers and Sunday School teachers when I was younger and now they are content to attend and spend.  This type of red hot service followed by years of cold-hearted nervous never will shed light on the dire in our dark world, for even the lost can do good deeds in their darkness!

Jesus IS the Light of the world.  Does your Light shine "as Him before men"?  If He is performing His work in us, then there will be no hiding His shining through us.  If we walk in the Light, then there is no doubt we shall shine bright. Our battle is to consider that we are united to Him so we must remain IN Him at all times. The truth of the matter is, that come what may, we ARE united to Him forever. We may not always 'feel' as though we are IN Him, but that does not disguise the reality of our unification.  May we be as steadfast in our desire to dwell IN the Light as we are assured we always remain affixed to that Light.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "I am not bound to win, I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light I have."  The Light we have must be proclaimed to the world, for we are bound by the Scriptures to, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

God desires to look good in us.  Our luminosity should not be dim, but it should seek to please Him. When the light of Jesus Christ shines through us, there is no way that Satan can blow it out because the Bible says, "Greater is he (Christ) that is in you than he (Satan) that is in the world."

Jesus is our Light.  If we simply lift him up high, people will draw nigh; because Jesus has stated, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me." As a Christian, your heart's desire should be to draw others to Him.

Pastor Kingsbury has challenged us recently to not be like the Dead Sea with only an inlet, but to be as the Sea of Galillee, taking in and flowing out.  I am reminded of a quote by Norman B. Rice that I read recently, "Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light."

For light to shine, it has to go into the darkness.  Don't remain stationary, but be a missionary and cause a revolutionary for another Tom, Dick, or Harry...In His plan, He has given us a mighty command to reach forth our hand into this dark land to help those groping in sinking sand to stand.  "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." But wait, No!  Why do we sing about my light being so little?  "This large light of mine, wounded and worn out sinners He can find, this large Light of mine, I'm not gonna try to outshine...never outshine, never outshine, never outshine!