Let Your Little Light Shine

Devin shared a story with us last night that made us all listen. He has several close friends that he's told us like to cuss and he said that he's asked them not to do it around him anymore. So the friends told him a week or so that they wanted to stop cussing too and asked him to help. Being boys and teenage boys at that, the method they came up with to help them was kind of, well, teenage boy-ish! So hears the deal: if any of the boys hears the other one cuss they can slap that person in the face as hard as they can! See, I told you, it is teenage boy-ish!

As far as we know nobody has gotten the dreaded slap.While their method is drastic, to say the least, it just proves once again that even the smallest of changes in one person can change an entire environment. Here is my 15 year old son trying to stand up for what he believes in and because of that his friends want to be like him! As a mother, I was overwhelmed with emotions, one of love (he's a teenager, do I need to say more?! LOL!), one of fear (for the kid getting slapped), one of warning (I wouldn't want my kid coming home with a big slap mark on his face and I definitely wouldn't want to have to explain to my parents why I got slapped in the first place), and of course, one of conviction (to change my actions to reflect Jesus even in the smallest of things).

My Sunday school teacher told us a story about tea the other morning. He asked, "If you take a cup of hot water and you add a tea bag, what happens? It changes the color of it's surroundings, right?" Think of it this way, if the hot water is the world, then as a Christian we are the tea bag that affects the world and changes it not the other way around. The world shouldn't change us. We are supposed to be the light of the world. Our smallest gestures of obedience could allow others to see Jesus and the light he has put in us and come to know Him as a result. Jesus said in  Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

We have seen so many teenagers at our church that stand up and are bold for Jesus and I wonder,"What am I afraid of?" How is it teenagers can go to the altar and most of the adults, including myself, never visit it? It is definitely pride and fear that keep me from giving it all to God. Watch the youth at your church. If they don't go the altar, maybe you need to set the example and go first. I will give up my pride and join you.

Think about it!
Are there small things in your life that feel like they are not important that really are making a difference to somebody? What are some new things you could do to make a difference? I want to give God what is God's. That includes my time, my treasures, and my life. Let's lay our life on His altar today!