"Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world..." (Philippians 2:14-15)
Philippians 2:14-15 stays before me all the time. I have had it in my work truck, on my desk & now as my screen saver on my phone. I want this passage on my mind at all times, because it's needed. In a world that is saturated with grumbling and complaining, it's hard not to be drug into it yourself...and I often am.
It seems like we all love to complain about something we have to do. Your boss at work gave you a project that is, as you say, "beneath you". Your teacher gave you homework on a 3 day weekend, "Who does she think she is?!!" At the last minute you were asked to keep the 3 year olds at church and you just did it last week!! Any of this sound familiar? Does to me. It's easy to get caught up in the drama of complaining when there is a job to do.
Paul tells us how to handle these issues in Philippians 2 and he was in a situation that would make Mother Teresa grumble...he was unjustly imprisoned. Paul was sitting in a rat & flea infested cell. There were no toilets, no running water and no bathing area. Filth was the norm. In this "five star resort" you dinned on Maggot filled food, if you were lucky enough to get it. All in all it was a bad place. But even in that situation Paul wrote about not grumbling or disputing. He said that if we would do all things, what we like and didn't like without grumbling or disputing, we would "shine light lights", in a dark world.
I took a group of Royal Ambassadors from grades 4th-6th on a camping trip years ago. One of the things we talked about was being lights in a dark world. We all sat down in a big circle then shut off all the lights we had there, it was pitch black. You couldn't see your hand in front of your faces. Each one of the boys had an unlit candle. I talked about the darkness of the world as we sat in complete darkness. The boys were not at all liking the darkness. Between you and me..,neither was I.
I went on to talk about what happens when someone comes to Christ and becomes a light, then lit my candle. The look on all their slightly eliminated faces was priceless and they all seemed to scoot closer to me, they were being drawn to the light. Then I told them that, that light grows when we share it and I lit the boy's candle to the right of me. Then he shared a lit with the next and on and on. Before long all the boys candles were lit and the darkness seemed to flee.
When we Shine like lights in this dark world by being different in the way of our attitude in uncomfortable times, it is contagious. People want to know why we are different. At that time we can share a lit with them, we can give them the Good News of Jesus Christ.
This world is indeed very very dark. But we are the lights. We are the lights that Christ illuminates to draw the world to Himself. The lights that those sitting in the darkness long to see and move toward. So many are preaching a "give up on the world" sermon that it's too far gone. But I say NO!! Don't give up, but stand up and reach those who are in the darkness and be the light that draws them to Christ. Be lights in the midst of this crooked and twisted generation.
Vern
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