January 2. The day after New Year’s. And now the oh-so-trendy new year
resolutions are starting to take shape.
Smokers are throwing out their lighters; drinkers are locking up their
liquor cabinets. It’s the day gym
memberships are sold in droves and junk food aisles don't need restocking.
And this year, I’ve made my resolution too. I've decided I'm going to be lighter in 2016. Yes, lighter. And I need you to help me.
“Lighter.”
Brighter.
Glowing in the darkness,
Radiant in the shadows.
Lighter.
We briefly in our mideastern travels the biblical
story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Remember this story? It shows up in that obscure book of Daniel. These three God-worshipers refuse to worship
the foreign king of Babylon’s statue of himself (talk about the definition of narcissism!)
and so the king’s punishment is to incinerate them. What a torturous and horrible way to die.
But for those of us who know the story, we don’t cringe
because we know what happens. These men
survive. And not only do they survive, they thrive. An angel appears to protect them and the fire
does nothing to them. It does not even
touch them. It says, “the
fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their
robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.” They
were completely untouched. The fire
did not burn them up.
Hmmm… a fire that didn’t burn? flames that didn’t scorch? That sounds familiar.
Oh right- that bush.
That burning bush. The one that was on fire but never actually
burned.
That burning bush that talked to Moses,
representing the presence of our God.
And that’s what these furnace-enduring men
became too. The fire that didn’t burn
them up was the presence of God, and they carried with them that presence. They
became a representation of God’s presence.
Their very lives became these radiant lights, these bright lamps of God’s
presence in this Babylonian king’s dark empire.
These men could easily have died, but God spared them to be bearers of
his light…
And I wonder if that’s what God desires are
for us as well. God spared us and
granted us salvation so we can be bearers of his presence. So we can be light to a dark world.
So 2016 I’m going to try to be “lighter”
and I’d love for you to join me… I’m
going to try be lighter, shining brighter with the light of God’s presence to those
around me.
In a world where politics and terror divide
neighbours and countries…
Be
the light in God’s world.
In a world where drugs and addictions destroy
relationships and lives,
Be
the light in God’s world.
In a world where the pace of life hardly
allows for patience and understanding,
Be
the light in God’s world.
In a world where selfishness, bullying, and
thoughtlessness seem to reign,
Be
the light in God’s world.
And in a world which has rejected God yet
they continue to wonder where he is,
Be
the light and be the presence of God to God’s world.
2016 is the year to become lighter. And let’s not make this one like most New
Year’s resolutions, going up in smoke after 6 weeks… Let’s continue all year--and the next and the
next-- to be the light, the radiant fire that flames but never burns up.
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