What Watt Are You?

By Cheri Cowell –

The other day I had to replace a light bulb and did not have the correct wattage on hand. Standing in the light bulb section at the home improvement store, I was lost. There must have been hundreds of choices of 75-watt bulbs. I had no idea it was that complicated. I finally settled on a bulb and headed home to bring light back to my office.

As I drove home I wondered what it would be like if Jesus could label our light-bearing wattage. Would I be a 100-watt, 75 watt, or a 40-watt bulb? Would I be one of those new colored light bulbs that bring out the colors in a room? Would God say I helped to bring out His colors in the world around me? Jesus asked the same questions.

The popular salt and light passage below follows another popular teaching on the beatitudes. Taken in context with the beatitudes this passage is telling the church how they are to take God’s ways as described in the beatitudes and use them to illuminate the path for others to find His way. In modern-day language, we are to be a 100-watt bulb for the world to find its way toward God.

PRAYER: Thank You, God for being full of so much color that You require specially equipped light-bearers to illuminate them. I humbly praise You for choosing me to be one of those light-bearers, and ask You to help me keep an open house and to shine for You in a dark and needy world.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16 MSG).

Resisting Stillness

By Rosemary Flaaten –

I felt the blood draining out of my legs as they dangled over the hard wooden pew. Confined to my limited square footage, I simply wanted to wiggle and squirm in an attempt to find a spot where my bottom could feel some reprieve, but instead my mother’s strong hand rested on my knee as a means of quieting my movement. Sitting still in church was a requirement, but seemingly next to impossible for me as five year old.

Roll forward forty years—I still find it hard to sit quietly. All my kids had flown the coup leaving an empty nest. There were no mounds of dirty laundry to wash and sort. There were no groceries to replenish. There were no slamming doors or buzzing cell phones. The house was quiet. Life was still.

But my soul was not.

The passage “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 NIV) always makes me squirm. I am a doer. I like to accomplish things and prefer the verse “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26 NKV). But how can I reconcile my physical need for action with my spiritual need for stillness? They seem to be at odds with each other.

I am learning that when I discipline myself to sit quietly in the presence of God, He quiets my spirit, allowing my mind, heart and soul to breathe deeply, slowing the frenetic pace of my mental acrobats. I experience the truth of Psalm 131:2 “But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.” (NIV). The gentle hand of my Father rests on my knee, not to chastise me, but to say “Be still. I want to fill you with my love, peace and direction, but its next to impossible to fill a moving vessel. Be still and know Me.”

I am still not good at sitting and doing nothing, but I now relish the quiet moments of each day, when I can soak up the presence of my Heavenly Father. It is from that place of quietness and stillness that I am rejuvenated in spirit and become ready to take on the world.

PRAYER: Father, calm my thoughts and banish my worries. Help me to experience the reality of Your love and approval as I sit and soak up Your presence.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters” (Psalm 23:2 NIV).

Inside Out

By Cheri Cowell –

Recently I met a friend for lunch and through our conversation she learned that I indeed wore a Southern Belle gown and big picture hat for my wedding. As proof, I pulled the picture from my purse. As she looked at the picture she said, “Funny, I didn’t picture you as the Southern Belle type.” To which I replied, “You’re right. I guess I was filling a role I thought I should play.”

Come to think of it, I have played many roles in my life that were not accurate reflections of my inner self. Jesus can see beneath the surface and calls us to be who we really are.

This Pharisee in the scripture below had invited Jesus into his home, but Jesus knew that the man’s heart (his motives) were not pure. To reveal truth to the man, Jesus speaks of the inside and outside of a cup. True giving comes from what is inside, He tells the man, implying that his invitation to Jesus to dine with him was not given from a pure heart. He was just playing a role; his true character was revealed.

Are you living in a role that does not accurately reflect your true character? Jesus is more interested in lives lived from the inside out, and gifts given from a pure heart.

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord for how You tenderly reveal Your inner self to me so that I might live a life that is clean from the inside out. Help me clean the cup from the inside so I may accurately reflect Your image to the outside.

“When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal. Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you” (Luke 11:37-41 NIV).

Little Jason

By Carin LeRoy –

Years ago when teaching Kindergarten, I had the cutest little boy in my class. Jason was a lovable little guy and would walk into class and say, “Mrs. LeRoy, I love you!” His smile was contagious, but he had a big problem. He couldn’t sit still. His constant wiggles and lack of attention provided many distractions for the other children in the class. Some days I needed to send him out to sit in the office so the other students could concentrate. As he would walk down the hall to sit in the office, he would turn to me and say, “But Mrs. LeRoy, I’ll be good! I’ll be good!” As hard as he tried he couldn’t sit still. He wanted to learn, but his mind wouldn’t let him.

That reminds me of our lives as believers. God commands us to live holy lives, but we stumble along trying to meet God’s standard of godly living and many times fall short. Even the apostle Paul said, “For what I do is not the good I want to do” (Romans 7: 19 NIV). He saw the sinful nature at war with our desire to please and follow God. It is a struggle we all have to face. We are much like little Jason as we continually try hard, but often fail to get it right.

I’ve often wondered where the years have taken Jason in life. By now he would be a matured adult, and those wiggles would have disappeared. In a similar way, as we mature in Christ and become sensitive to His guidance, we learn to keep those sinful desires under control.

Charles Stanley says, “Every believer is indwelt by God’s Spirit, but the extent of His rule is determined by the Christian’s freedom to comply.” It’s our choice whether we will let God have control or give in to those desires. Let’s choose to live a life that is dependent upon the power of God.

PRAYER: Lord, thank You that I have Your Spirit to guide me and prompt me as I walk through life. Thank You that I can depend on Your power to live an obedient life. Help me to learn to be sensitive to Your leading each day.

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8: 5, 6 NIV).

The Hope of Heaven

By Carin LeRoy –

Yesterday while driving home from running a few errands, I noticed the bad condition of the road. As I drove over potholes and patched sections, I saw its ugliness. Unsightly orange cones lined one section where road repair happened. Litter cluttered the side. My thoughts turned to what heaven’s road will look like. They sure won’t look like the scene I saw.

When scripture speaks of the New Jerusalem it says, “The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass, (Revelation 21:21 NIV). While we pave our streets with black tarmac, heaven has streets of pure gold. Earlier in the chapter, it speaks of the foundation of the city walls. There are twelve layers, each with a different precious stone – jasper, sapphire, agate, emerald, onyx, carnelion, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst. The twelve gates in the city are each made with a single pearl. That’s hard for me to imagine, but how beautiful that must look!

As we go through life in a fallen world with sin, sickness and pain, heaven is our hope. Not only because of its beauty, but because it is where we will spend eternity with Christ and where life’s struggles will end. I’m sure when we get to Heaven, the joys we experience will far outweigh the burdens of earthly life.

So when life gets you down, remember that Heaven awaits!

PRAYER: Lord, thank You that I have the hope of Heaven. Someday, when life’s struggles are over, thank You that I will get to enjoy the great wonders of Heaven and an eternal life with You.

QUOTE: “If you’re a Christian suffering with great pains and losses, Jesus says, “Be of good cheer,” (John 16:33 NIV). The new house is nearly ready for you. Moving day is coming. The dark winter is about to be magically transformed into spring. One day soon you will be home–for the first time. Until then, I encourage you to meditate on the Bible’s truths about Heaven. May your imagination soar and your heart rejoice,” Randy Alcorn, from Heaven.

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