Monday, November 27, 2023
Light They Can’t Ignore
Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. (1 Peter 2:12 NLT)
A little salt will go a long way. Just a pinch of salt in your oatmeal or on your watermelon can enhance the flavor. And one Christian in a family, neighborhood, or workplace can influence everyone.
Jesus said of His church, “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless” (Matthew 5:13 NLT).
For example, Moses, through his personal integrity and godliness, influenced the Israelites for good. Imagine how hard it must have been for him. They were so full of unbelief and whining and complaining.
We need more people like this who will make a difference in this world. When you get together for family reunions and everyone wants to drink or smoke or party, you’re the odd one out. And you’re probably the person they always choose to do the token prayer at Thanksgiving. It is so uncomfortable.
Or you might be at a workplace where all the others are nonbelievers. You’re the brunt of their jokes. And you want to get a new job.
Maybe in your classroom you’re the one Christian who will disagree with the professor who’s promoting evolution or some other ungodly worldview.
It’s tough, and we often want to get out of those types of situations. But do we ever consider that God put us where we are to be an influence?
Take Moses, for example. God called him to Mount Sinai to receive the commandments. The Bible tells us, “When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. ‘Come on,’ they said, ‘make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt’ ” (Exodus 32:1 NLT).
Moses was gone, and they needed something to worship. And instead of recognizing that it was the Lord working through Moses who led them out of Egypt, they thought it was Moses himself. As soon as Moses was gone, they were looking for something to replace him.
In effect, they were saying, “We need something tangible, something we can reach out and touch.” So the plans for the golden calf began, which ultimately led to sexual immorality and idol worship.
Moses’ personal godliness and integrity kept them in check up to that point. And when he left, everything fell apart.
In the same way, it’s the very presence of the church in the world today that keeps things from getting even worse. We think things are bad in our country now, and they are. But wait until the Lord calls His church home. We can imagine how quickly the whole scenario of the end times, inaugurated by the emergence of the Antichrist, will unfold.
We are the salt of the earth. We are God’s representatives. And God can do a lot with a little.
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