We Shine You, Lord

⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.- 2 Corinthians 4:5-7


Yesterday at church we offered our time and talent commitments for 2012.  It was an inspiring service, but I was particularly touched by the song the ensemble performed.  The words were absolutely perfect.    You can listen here to You are the Light by Steve Fee.  Here are the words:

We are the people of GodThe sons and daughters of loveForgiven and restored and redeemedLiving our lives to the praise of our KingWe are the ones who will shineHis light in the darkness of the nightThe hopeless, the broken, the poorThey will be hopeless and broken no more

You are the lightThe light of the worldAnd we shine You, LordYou are the lightThe light of the worldAnd we shine You, Lord 

We are the people of GodThe sons and daughters of loveForgiven and restored and redeemedLiving our lives to the praise of the KingWe are the ones who will shineHis light in the darknessThe hopeless, the broken, the poorThey will be hopeless and broken no more 

We shine like stars in the universeProclaimimg the hope of our GodAnd to the sons and daughters in all the earthWe shine You, Lord 

And to the lost and the brokenThe hurting and hopelessWe shine You, LordTo the ones who are wearyBurdened and sufferingWe shine You, Lord 

We shine like stars in the universeWe shine, we shineTo the sons and daughters in all the earth 

We shine You, Lord yeah

 We spend a lot of our time arguing theology and stuff like the proper age and way to baptize and whether or not communion is simply symbolic or something more.  We even argue about who gets to go to heaven.  But when we boil it all down, isn't our faith really just about helping the "hopeless, broken and poor" so that they will be "hopeless and broken no more?"  Isn't our only real job just to "Shine you, Lord?"


If we would spend less time and energy arguing about things we really don't know and more time and energy doing the things we do know, maybe the hopeless, broken and poor would already be healed.  Jesus told us that we are the light of the world and that it is his light that we shine.  He wants us to help one another, not convince one another that unless you believe as I do, you're going to hell.


I am convinced that divisive issues are the favorite tool of the devil.  He uses them to distract God's people from real ministry.  We become "righteously angry" and leave to find or even develop new "bible believing" churches.  And we are sure God is on our side.  But all that time... when we are forming committees to prove the others wrong... when we are writing letters to church leaders... when we are visiting other churches to find a better fit... all this time would have been put to better use healing the broken, hopeless, poor, weary, burdened and suffering.  Satan wins.


Let's find new ways to put our time and talents to use.  Let us shine Jesus.


Lord Jesus,
Teach us to shine you.  Amen.


Joys:  beautiful music at church yesterday; how Holy Cross encourages every member and visitor to use their time and talent to shine Jesus; fun with friends last night.