Mirroring the Light of the World

As God laid this Bible Study on my heart, and I began to really dig into Scripture and life to be able to somehow convey the truths God was giving me, my friend, Robin, and I were eating lunch in a beautifully decorated Mexican restaurant, which also had some quite yummy food. Piles of notes were lying in front of us -- and God was pouring out more ideas as we shared. Trying to find the place to start was very difficult and tedious and in need of much more prayer. We agreed to do that, and I would begin to write the first draft of the study as God would have me teach it at that time.

We finished our meal, and while waiting for the check, I looked up and really noticed the light fixtures for the first time. The shades over each table were gorgeous Mexican pottery pieces with bright colored glazes and awesome designs.

The bulbs were round and appeared, at first, to be clear. They were reflecting and shining with the design of the shade above them. Closer examination revealed that the bottom half of the bulb had a mirror coating that was allowing the bulb to reflect what was surrounding it from above. How like us. We will reflect what is surrounding us. The more intimate we are with Jesus the more we will, like a mirror, reflect the true "Light of the World" that lives inside each Christian heart. If we surround ourselves with junk, we will likewise reflect the junk. On this side of eternity each of us has lots of that junk that gets in the way of the Light of Jesus within us, the Light which we desire to shine so bright and clear others can't help but see.

(Sadly, those bulbs have since been replaced by those twisted corkscrew looking energy efficient bulbs. But that day the observation we made was the starting point I needed for this study. God answered that prayer so quickly!!!)

The Apostle Paul (I Corinthians 3:16) makes it quite clear that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit today. God resides within us. Who or what is on the throne of our temples? When we're honest with ourselves, we must admit that there are idols that come into our heart and knock Jesus off His rightful throne in our temples. In our world of gluttony in every form, we need to see Jesus, high and lifted up, and recognize (Hebrews 12:1) the depravity of sin in which the kingdom of self becomes entangled. This allows idols to set up residence where the King should reside. Is our focus on Him or on the stuff: TV, internet, facebook, electronic connectivity of all kinds, food, clothes, cars, shopping, hanging out, sports, drink, drugs, easy credit, etc. We become obsessed with so many things. WE even become obsessed with trying to change these things about ourselves in our own power, which means we focus on them even more, and we fail. The battle is ongoing.

In the next post we will focus on the specific thing God has his finger on in your life. I'm very excited to be making this trip with you, and I'm praying for each of you even though I may not know your name. God does.


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All other content Copyright, Lynn U. Watson, 2004, 2011