Letting Christ's Light Shine Through You

Have any of you ever thought to yourself or even said to a friend, "Man, this is a dark world we live in, huh?" I know I sure have, and the older I get, the more I realize that this a pretty messed world around us. All we have to do is turn the news on for about five seconds, and we can see just how crazy messed up things are.

One question I think we all have probably thought at some point or another is this: Where is the light in this dark world? And what do we have to do to find that light?

Well guess what, folks? If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then the light is in YOU. Yes, you. :)

I'm ashamed to admit this, but there have been times in my life where I have been afraid to stand out for my faith. I didn't want to be different from others around me, so I simply sat back and blended in with the crowd. But the older I get, the more my attitude about that is changing. Changing drastically. I want to be so consumed by the spirit of the Lord that people have no choice but to see the love of Christ when they see me. My personal prayer is as follows: "Lord, when other people see me, I want them to see You."

In Matthew 5:14-16, we see this awesome reminder...

Did you ever sing the following song when you were little? "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let is shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine! Hide it under bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine." You may not know what song I'm talking about, but that's totally okay. The message behind this song that we sang as kids is powerful. The song goes on to say, "Don't let Satan blow it out! No! I'm gonna let it shine." 

We weren't placed on this earth to blend in, y'all; we were made to stand out. And by standing out, I mean standing out for the glory of the Lord. Everything that we think, say, and do should be pointed back to Jesus, and in the process, we should strive to point others towards Him as well.

But all that is easier said than done, right? It's easy to wake up in the morning and say, "I'm going to glorify Jesus in everything I do today, and I'm gonna let His light shine through me." Sure, we can all say that. But how many of us truly live out the light of Christ? 

I know I fail at this daily. It's disheartening to realize that I did or said something that was not glorifying our King, but you know what the amazing part of that is?? We receive grace and mercy from God our Father every.single.day. 

Grace and Mercy. Brother David (our awesome pastor at Lafitte) talked about grace and mercy this morning, and I would like to define these terms as he did to make it a little easier to truly grasp their meanings: Grace is getting something you don't deserve, and mercy is not getting something you do deserve. Basically, because of our sins, we deserve punishment, death, a lack of forgiveness, etc., but instead we receive abundant, eternal life with Jesus, forgiveness, love, etc. Pretty awesome, huh? 

But even though we receive grace and mercy from God, why do we let our own failures and mistakes keep us from letting His light shine through us? If He has forgiven us (which He has), then we can totally use our failures/mistakes to be a light and hope for others who are going through the same thing or something similar. We don't have to be perfect before we can start pointing others towards Christ. If that was the case, Lord knows not a single one of us would make the cut (bummer... lol).

Wanna hear something funny? You do?? Okay, good! Because I was going to tell you anyway, haha. :) I get asked the following question all.the.time... "Are you happy, like, all the time??" I've had total strangers ask me this. Or they ask me, "Are you always this energetic? Why do you smile so much?" Sheesh man, my bad for smiling... haha. (Now don't get me wrong, that is totally not a bad question to be asked... I actually enjoy when people ask me things like this, hehe. I just think it's funny that it happens so often!)

But anyway, I think this is one way I strive to let Christ's light shine in my own personal life. I have always been a pretty outgoing person, and I like to make other people smile/laugh. Now, am I happy all the time? Well duhr, of course not. I get sad/mad/angry/hurt/annoyed quite often, but I've made it my goal to try to make others happy even if I'm not so happy at that particular moment in time. 

If I can make one person happy by my annoying.in.your.face.smiling.goofy.self, then I've done my job. :) That's one small example of how I strive to let Christ's light shine through my own life. I want people to ask why I am happy or why I smile so much because in response, I can say, "It's because of my sweet Jesus and His constant love, grace, and mercy."

We can let Christ's light shine through our lives at work, school, in the mall, at a friend's house, at a ball game... ANYWHERE. Wherever your daily life takes you, remember that you have an amazing opportunity to be the light of Christ in a very dark world. What a blessing! :)

Oh, if the next time you see me and I'm being too annoyingly smiley, just whack me! Haha not really, but you can say, "Calm down, young one," and that will be okay! :) 

Praying for you, my sweet friends, and I hope you have a WONDERFUL week!

Love & Blessings,
Claire

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