Faith in Hostile TimesSample

Shining the Light of Christ

If you’ve ever gone camping, you probably took a torch with you. When we find ourselves traversing uneven terrain at night – even if it’s just walking from the tent to the loo – light is essential.

Spiritually, the world is a dark place. Most people are trying to make their way over rough ground. Whether they’ll admit it or not, they’re lost, afraid, confused, and hurting. Today, allow God to challenge you with the truth that people desperately need Christ’s light to make sense of where they find themselves. By His grace, God has chosen us to be His torches. He has placed you where you are, at this exact (dark) time in history, to bear witness to Him. Ask Him how you can begin to light up this generation with His love and truth.

Fascinatingly, Jesus only ever criticised people for one of two things: His disciples, for their lack of faith, and the religious leaders, for their hypocrisy. It’s ironic that both God and the person who doesn’t believe in Him both hate hypocrisy. Carey Nieuwhof remarks, ‘Jesus said Christians should be known for how deeply we love. Yet studies show that in the eyes of many non-Christians, we’re known for how deeply we judge. The problem in many cases isn’t that unchurched people don’t know any Christians. The problem is that they do. And they don’t like us – for good reason.’

In this same vein, Peter wrote to Christians suffering under severe cultural and political persecution, encouraging them to trust and obey God, and to honour their human governors. He wouldn’t have given this instruction if it wasn’t possible to do both. Think about what it might look like for your goodness to ‘silence the ignorance of the foolish’ (1 Peter 2:15). Of course, people will still revile you when you do good, but God sees, and rewards. His ways are not our ways – and His ways may not make sense to you – but accepting authority and doing right, even in the face of persecution, is an effective way of winning the hearts of the lost for Jesus.

In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus calls His followers to action, speaking over them the truth that they are salt and light. You’re salt and light too. May you be filled with a sense of urgency to proclaim that God sent His only Son to die and rise again for the sins of a dark and desperate world. May God fill you with eagerness to share the wonders of His love, with courtesy and kindness. And where you find yourself in a melee of division and delusion, may you know that God is lavishing His grace upon you because ‘you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.’ (1 Peter 2:9)

This plan was adapted from the series, Faith in Hostile Times, on RightNow Media. To find out more, visit: https://www.rightnowmedia.org/au/get-access