Scripture & Thought
Matthew 5:14 –
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
I don’t know when things have been any darker in our culture spiritually. Our culture is awash with depictions of violence. People flaunt immoral lifestyles. They wink at things the Bible says are clearly wrong. Lying has become so commonplace that we accept it now, even among our leaders.
As believers living in an ungodly world, it’s so tempting for us to simply say, “Forget it. There isn’t anything we can do. Obviously, we’ll never impact this world.”
We wonder if we can ever make a difference. We wonder if we can effectively penetrate this culture with the Good News that God gave us to proclaim.
We could just throw up our hands and say, “We might as well just retreat into our Christian subculture and hope that our problems eventually go away or that the Lord returns soon and gets us out of here.”
But we need to remember that Jesus Christ gave us a mandate, which is to affect this world as both salt and light, as His representatives.
The answer lies in the source of our power. If we rely on our own strength and methods, we cannot make much of a difference. If we rely on our own abilities, we surely will fail.
We need a power beyond ourselves. And with God’s power behind us, launching us into this culture, we can make a difference in this world—the only real difference. Yet this only will happen through the church that the Spirit of God empowers, the church that obeys the Word of God.
There is no way we can impact our culture in our own strength. We can’t do it through programs. We can’t do it through gimmicks. We can’t do it through any of our own devices.
But if we choose to be driven by God’s limitless power, then nothing can stop us.
With God’s power behind us, going into this culture, we can make a difference!
Prayer: O God, I pray for myself, and those I lead, that we would be sincere and intentional at being the best representatives of Christ that we can be. There is a world that is watching how we live in the midst of the chaos and turmoil, and how our faith affects our lives. Help us to represent well. I ask this, in your name, the name that is above every other name! The One who hold ALL power in His hands….Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.