Got A Light?

This morning at a men's bible study I lead, I was talking  about Christianity and faith and what all that looks like in our lives.  The story of the woman caught in adultery that was about to be stoned was brought up.  The end result of her meeting with Jesus was "go and sin no more".  I am sure we could talk until we are blue in the face about the in's and out's of this scripture as a whole but one thing that stood out to me, was the calling he put on her as she left.  This calling is the same calling he placed on the Israelite Nation and on us today as Christ Followers and that is the calling to be a light in the darkness.  Our God has not changed His plan, he still desires to use his "chosen" to be a light onto all the nations.
How do I be a light was the next question...  Do I stand on the corner and talk to people about Jesus, do I go door to door and invite people to church, do I start a bible study at my office, do I pay for the persons burger in line behind me and leave a card telling them that Jesus loves them, do I move in with an un-reached people group in an unknown island and learn their language so I can share with them about Jesus, or what?  The ANSWER....  I don't know, we each have to be obedient to what the Spirit of God leads us to do.  I personally like the picture of Daniel and his buddies in the OT where they were captured and brought into a group of people that were not followers of God and instead of telling them everything they shouldn't do and how bad what they were for eating and drinking certain things and how they shouldn't be doing some of the things they were doing.  They simply lived out a life of example and devotion in front of them and in the end God was honored when the King of Babylon said in Daniel 6 ²⁶ “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.“For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. 

My question for "ME" today is, HOW AM I BEING A LIGHT...  Do people know me as the guy that argues my Christian faith because I want to be RIGHT or the guy that lives my Christian faith because I want to be LIGHT "I know, it's a little Rhymey:)"  I pray that we wrestle with this question and that it helps us to remember why we are here...  Have an Awesome and safe Memorial Day wknd...

Blessings,

Zac

The verse about the Adulteress woman about to be stoned in case you didn't have it readily available.

JOHN 8 ¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²  Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

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Blogging Again... Running

It is funny how we go through seasons in life and I have been in a season of NOT BLOGGING:)  I am excited about getting back to writing out my thoughts on a blog again and what I feel God is placing in my heart.  Today I have been working diligently on a new series that I am writing on the book of Jonah.  I am very excited about this series because I believe that so many of us "myself included" run from God in one way or another in different areas of our lives.  I focused on Jonah 1 today and from where I stand, it is almost humorous to think that Jonah thought he could run from God.  This makes me think of my daughter Cate and when we play hide and go seek, she will run into a room and back into a corner covering her eyes.  The whole time she is laughing and making more than enough noise to make her presence known:)..  I think this is a similar picture of how effective our "RUNNING FROM GOD" is.  We think we are running or hiding, when the reality is He is RIGHT THERE looking down saying DUH, I see you.  His call on us follows us wherever we go.  My senior year in high-school, my youth pastor asked me to step up and be a leader in our student ministry at Stonewall FBC and I told her "sure", after attending this church for the last 4 years I ran and never set foot in there again, I RAN from what I felt God calling me to do, I RAN from my fear of inadequacy and I RAN from someone believing in me.  Now 14 years later and 13 years in the ministry later I realize just how foolish my running was.  I don't know what God is calling you to today but I pray that you won't run from it but rather run to it and embrace it with everything you have and do it to the best of your ability for the Glory of our risen Savior Jesus Christ...