There are a lot of great songs that have been written about the light of Jesus. From classic hymns like Phillip Bliss’, “The Light of the World is Jesus” to more modern hits like Charlie Hall’s “Marvelous Light”, the light of Jesus has always brought us comfort as we seek to bask in it. There is something reassuring about light. We get energy from light. So why is it that we can sing about the light of the world, yet in reality the world grows darker every day? As followers of Jesus, what are we missing?
Matthew
Mission Trip to Africa
On August 2nd, eighteen year old Kelsey Williams left the comforts of home to serve Christ in Africa (Jinja and Fort Portal, Uganda) for two weeks. This is an extraordinary commitment for anyone, let alone a young woman of her age. Kelsey boldly lives out her passion to serve Jesus. She was kind enough to answer some questions and allow me to share her answers with the readers of this blog.
Self-Discipline
You can’t be a disciple of Christ while maintaining the status quo. When we make the decision to recognize Jesus as Lord of our lives, everything changes. Or at least it should. Simply pretending to be a follower of Jesus is the same as not following at all. If we confess Him with our lips but do not demonstrate Him with our lives, then we are fooling ourselves if we think our eternity is secured. Jesus said that many will come to Him saying, “Lord, Lord”, but He will send them away because He never knew them (Matthew 7:15-23). If we want to avoid such a fate, we must live disciplined lives seeking Christ, while reflecting His love to others.
Do or Die
There comes a time in each of our lives when we must choose between self-preservation and simply doing what is right. We will choose to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of a friend or give up what we want in order to gain what we truly need. It is in these times that we learn what we really value. Are we who we say we are? Do we stand for what we say we believe? We are defined by our actions, not our words. When the time comes for you to act, what will you do?
30 Pieces of Silver
Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. It was a decent sum of money, enough to buy a piece of real estate (Matthew 27:3-10). It certainly wasn’t enough to set him up for life. He still was going to have to work for a living. Perhaps it would be easier to excuse his actions if he had been paid millions of dollars to betray his friend, not to mention the fact that this friend just happened to be the Son of God. Yet it only took thirty pieces of silver to convince Judas to turn away from the one he professed as Lord. We turn up our noses in disgust that such a small sum would entice Judas. It’s easy to say that we would never have done such a thing. Until, of course, we look at our own price for betrayal.