Let Your Light Shine

We've all heard the woes of our economic situation. The waves of negativity seem to crash endlessly against our foundations, wearing us down, little by little it erodes as it washes our "hope" away.

If you haven't experienced this, you must live in a closed box without radio, tv or any modern day communication. Either that, or you are blessed with an ability to tune it out. I've found that if you even begin to feel a glimmer of encouragement, there are plenty of people out there ready to remind you of how terrible things really are.

And its only going to get worse. At least that's what they tell you. If you really think about it though, that's saying that things are going to get better. It can be a pessimistic statement, but then again, it can be an optimistic one. Its all about perspective.

After listening to a church sermon recently about our flailing economy, I really had had enough. Forget the economy. The thing that is most discouraging to me is our reaction to it. And if you hadn't guessed it by now, when I say "our"--I'm talking about Christians.

Please understand, I do not mean to downplay the loss of jobs and uncertainty that many people are facing. Our economy is not something that we can find much encouragement in these days.

But it is what it is. God promised that things would not be easy in this world, and its amazing to me the negativity I encounter among people of faith. If this life was so great, than what reason would we have for looking forward to the next one? We're supposed to hold loosely to this world, and the worse it becomes, the easier it is to look ahead.

But that also points to something else. If we truly are living in the "end times," then our divine purpose is ever the more critical-to win people to Christ.

And rather than preaching warnings about the doom and gloom of our economy, lets look to the Bible for the real "warnings" we should be heeding, and these are just a couple I found:

Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.

Put away perversity from your mouth;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze directly before you.

Make level paths for your feet
and take only ways that are firm.

Do not swerve to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.

That came from Proverbs 4:23-27. Need one from the New Testament? Believe me, its full of them. But here's a pretty significant one:

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

That's Matthew 26:36-41. Some of Jesus's last words before he was "betrayed into the hands of sinners." He knew how weak we are. His warning against this?: Watch and pray. Watch what? Watch your back? No, I don't think that's what he was saying. I think he was talking about our hearts.

Look back at that Proverb. "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

And then take a look at this one: "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phillipians 4:7)

Did you catch that? Peace. Is a heart full of worry and fear about our economy at peace? I'm going to venture to say that its not. If our hearts are full of worry and fear, are we really trusting in a God who has it all under control. This verse says peace is what guards our hearts. When we're not at peace, our hearts are not guarded. They're vulnerable. The very things Jesus warned about "watching."

So what is my point in all of this? Can I say my heart is totally at peace amidst the chaos that seems to embody our world? No, I probably can't. But I do know this: focusing on the bad is not helping. Its hurting. Instead of heeding the "warnings of the world," we should be looking even more to the Word of God. Through devotion and prayer and with the help of the Spirit of the Lord, watch and pray.

And above all else, guard your heart. And remember, you are the light of the world. It may be pretty dark out there, but you're holding the flashlight.