Shining Light

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: all assemble and come to you, your sons from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.” Isaiah 60:1-5

Dear Lord, this passage has been speaking to me for quite some time and I’ve been coming back to it for various reasons and at different times, and I came back to it once again today. I went down to the market again this afternoon and the same guy who was captivated with me last time was working again. I really didn’t want to go, because I didn’t want to deal with the whole deal of him flirting and taking my friendly nature to be flirting. I find myself in this position a lot, and did this summer with one of my guy friends in particular. It’s as if I’m hesitant to be myself, the woman You have created me to be, because I don’t want to hurt someone or make them think the wrong thing.

And there’s times this summer, quite a lot, in which I would be shopping or at some kind of public place and I would genuinely smile at someone. They were baffled when I did such! The fact that I could be making such a gesture of friendship and love to a complete stranger was a foreign language to them in so many ways. It’s as if it was running through their heads, “what is this person doing? Does she really mean it? Why is she smiling at me?...” and so on.

It’s said that love is the universal language. Well Lord, if You are love, then You must be the universal language…and I think that’s pretty sweet. It all comes back to every person in the world being united in the same fact that we all need You, no matter what nation or tongue.

Yet I think at times, as Christians, we are intimidated by the language barrier. I remember going down to Chinatown for one of our outreaches. I went sharing with Derek, who is from China, and so he was able to speak a bit of Chinese with some people who spoke broken English. But Lord, the amazing thing that day was that the gospel was not communicated solely through words, but through love. It was communicated to them that we were willing to sit down with them and share our time with them, and tell them of something meaningful to us and to share it with them as well. There was light in those people’s eyes as a result of us being there and talking with them.

Obviously, I have my own communication barrier at times, especially with people with accents or English as their second language. This intimidated me at times while sharing this summer for I wondered how I would keep a conversation going if I couldn’t understand. But oh Lord, how much greater You are than that and how You overcome! That is nothing for me to worry about!

And there is nothing for me to worry about in communicating the gospel. I first and foremost show love. Love transcends all languages and all barriers; moreover, You transcend all languages and all barriers. In showing them the gospel, I show them You first.

As in the passage from Isaiah above states, I am to arise and shine, for my light has come. I believe it has, O Lord. As you mold me more and more like You, I find within myself this light and love that keeps bursting at the seams and I can’t hold it inside! I see others drawn to that in such a way that it is not me. It is You revealing Yourself to them through me. I am but a mere vessel, O Lord. And I must not be so prideful to think it is me and try to hold back because I don’t want to hurt people or whatever. It is You they see, let me shine that ablaze! Must I grieve You in not being who You have created me to be, a daughter of the light? No, not now, and not ever! There is thick darkness in the earth and over the peoples, and I must not hide Your light, because it is through that light people will come to You. It is that light that is You manifested in me and continue to shine brighter as time passes.

Lord, my heart swells with joy at this simple truth now realized in my life! Your spirit is working in infinite ways and I need to fully surrender to it. How selfish would I be to hold back any longer…let the smile that remains on my face as a result of Your goodness and the joy in my heart that overflows shine brightly before all men! It is You they are drawn to, because You are the only good thing in me. I have no claim to myself and the ways You choose to use me, and therefore, I fully, completely surrender!