Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Esther 4: 13-14 (ESV)
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others…”
Matthew 5: 14-16b (ESV)
These remain interesting times.
Maybe that is wrapping too much cotton around the rock considering what is going on in our families, institutions, in the nation and world.
Morality, decency and civility standards in our families, children, educational institutions, workplaces, sports, media and other venues continue to slip, and we applaud when integrity and wholesomeness appear as novel newcomers rather than an expected way of life.
The world is in a bit of a mess, and heading for the mixer.
If you doubt that, well, I don’t know.
Leadership in our nation, sadly, seems to be struggling and ineffective when needed. Advisors appear to balance lives on the scales of political ambitions and outcomes, rather than on safety, the sanctity of life and doing the right thing.
Around the world, leaders look for power rather than peace.
So what can you do? Especially while feeling frustrated. Feckless. Helpless. Totally inept to be able to do anything to change or make things better.
But remember—God’s got us here for a reason.
God wants us to know He loves us.
He knew what the world would look like at this time, when He created us.
He wants us to be light.
To give our lives to expand the Kingdom of God—the only thing which will have a lasting effect, both now and eternally, on the lives and the world in which we live.
God created you and me—specifically and intentionally—for such a time as this, to make a difference, with Him, in the world around us.
So, how do we do that? Where do we begin?
Maybe it starts by first turning to Him.
Maybe it starts with prayer.
Praying every day and more—for everything and everyone mentioned above, and more.
Talking with God—asking for help and direction on how we can have an impact for change, and for good in the world, for such a time as this.
Maybe, then, making a difference with and for Him for all the world, occurs when we look at the darkness in the world around us, and remember what Jesus said, in Matthew 5: 14—that we are light.
He didn’t say we should be light, or that one day we will be light, or we should work hard to be light.
He said—“we are light!”
So—shine.
Prayer. Shine—be light.
And then, maybe share. Share the love of Christ, which we have within us, every day with everyone you meet—and not just with our actions, but with our words.
The world is a mess. But there is much we can do with the leadership and power of the God who created you and me—for such a time as this.
Why not start here—Pray. Shine. Share.
That will keep us busy, and effective. And that just may do it, especially collectively.
And remember—when you have a day or a moment where you feel a bit helpless—that God is there, and God’s got it all!
In His Name–Scott
