Bonnie Smith
Let Your Light Shine

Christians...where is our compassion? What are we here for? What is our purpose in this world? We’re here to “Let light shine out of darkness.” Not to hide our light from those who are unworthy of it. Our light is The Love, Compassion and Forgiveness that Christ has freely given to us who believe. “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” Mark 16:15 Everyone...not just those who agree with us or those who are perfect Christians (which we know doesn’t exist) We Christians, are only made perfect through our faith in the blood of Christ. Listen to what we’re told in scripture on this very subject: ”Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.” 2 Corinthians 4:4,6 So, you see, we must have compassion on those who cannot see The Love God has for them. We must have those hard conversations and continue loving and sharing the truth, but more than that, we must never stop praying for those who are lost and blind to The Truth...the truth of God’s love, peace, joy and salvation! We have to get out of the weeds and stop arguing about lifestyles, politics, proper ways to worship, etc... Instead, share The Good News...Share The Love of Christ, with compassion and passion!! Share The Good Book! Share your heart and love unconditionally! We are all sinners...”As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.”...“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:10,23 I’ll close with the remainder of the core scripture for today’s devotional: “They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:6-12,16-18