For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
II Corinthians 4: 5-6 (RSV)
In the previous devotion, we talked about how Satan tries to keep people from seeing the light of the gospel. That light is Jesus. This devotion explores how we focus on Him and internalize that light to help us remain true to God.
Nuggets
- The focus of all disciples of Jesus should be preaching about Jesus and what He has done for us.
- It is up to the disciples of Jesus to reflect His Light.
- Jesus shines His Light into our hearts.
To read devotions in the Blinded from the Light series, click the appropriate button below.
In the last devotion, we discussed who Satan was and how he is deceiving people in his attempt to dethrone God. “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God” (II Cor. 4: 4 RSV).
Mankind would be much better served to believe in Jesus as the Lord and Savior. Let’s take a look at what the next couple of verses in II Corinthians 4 has to tell us.
It’s All About Jesus
“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (II Cor. 4: 5 RSV).
This is one reason Satan can get away with his shenanigans. He tries to tell us it is about us — and we fall for it.
But it isn’t. Our focus should be preaching about Jesus and what He has done for us.
One of the commentaries I read made an interesting statement. They said that Christianity is the only religion that utilizes preaching for spreading its message.
A pastor presenting a message isn’t opening it up for debate. He isn’t floating ideas to see which one will be accepted. He isn’t watering it down so unbelievers will find it more palatable.
The pastor should be telling his listeners — point blank — that this is the message of Jesus Christ crucified for our sins. His message should be that we have to
- admit that we are sinners;
- believe Jesus, who didn’t sin, died and rose again to be the sacrifice needed to restore our relationship with God;
- confess that we have asked God to be Lord of our lives and Jesus to be our Redeemer;
- change our lifestyle so that we are living the way God wants us to; and
- follow Jesus’ example on how to live.
To read When Does God Hold Back His Mercies?, click on the button below.
We can’t just leave it to the pastors, though. Each and every disciple of Jesus is called to spread the Good News. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (I Pet. 2: 9 NIV). We are all called to share His message.
Jesus is the message. We use our experiences and our stories to show others how we can apply that message to today’s world.
But we lead with Jesus as our Redeemer and God as Sovereign God. We keep the focus there.
There Is a Reason
“For it is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (II Cor. 4: 6 RSV)
God created light. Jesus was also called the Light of the world (Jn. 8: 12). It is up to the disciples of Jesus to reflect His Light. Jesus shines His Light into our hearts.
Let’s look at it this way. It might take a minute to work through this, so bear with me.
Making the Connections
God has shone in our hearts. That is our starting point.
Deuteronomy 6: 5-6 says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart” (NKJV). Psalm 119: 11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You” (NKJV).
We are to love God with all our hearts and hide God’s Word in our hearts. This helps us live the lives He has called us to live.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1: 1 NKJV). John is saying that Jesus is the Word.
So, we are supposed to hide Jesus in our hearts. Jesus will help us live for God.
Add this to the mix. “Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn. 14: 23 ESV).
We talked a couple of months ago that God’s peace, mercy and love are at our center. That is our foundation. Those three prongs make a strong foundation.
That foundation can help us when we are under attack from Satan. There will be attacks.
Satan attacks us as disciples of Jesus because he really wants to defeat God. We know he isn’t going to because we’ve read Revelation.
But what did we say a couple of weeks ago when we were looking at the end times in Matthew? “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other” (Mt. 24: 10 NLT).
What did that survey say? “According to the Barna Group, the majority of Christians do not believe that Satan or the devil actually exists.” If disciples of Jesus don’t believe in God’s Word, they have turned away from the faith.
How Do We Apply This?
I don’t know about you, but my head is spinning. So, I am just going to do bullet points.
- It comes down to who we believe — God or Satan?
- Satan is going to try to blind us, so we need help from God to resist him.
- We will have to stand firm in our belief in God because it is going to be a battle.
- But with Jesus in our hearts — as our foundation — we can withstand whatever Satan has to throw at us.
- Word of caution: we have to believe the whole Bible.
- We can’t pick and choose what fits our understanding.
- We have to make God our Sovereign God.
Added bonus: People think they are enlightened because they champion inclusiveness and coexistence. Unfortunately for them, we can’t water down God’s Word to make someone feel better. God wants us to be inclusive, but we have to live in the way He mandates.
We have to change our lifestyle so that we are living the way God wants us to. We have to focus on God and His laws and commandments. We have to obey those. When we mess up, we have to confess.
As we seek God and grow in our relationship with Him, we can see how we are to live. We see how Satan is trying to blind us. We are better prepared to withstand Satan’s attacks.
Father. We believe in You. We believe in Jesus. Help us to stand firm in our belief as Satan tries to turn us away from You. May we seek You in ways that grows our faith in You. Amen.
What do you think? How does God want you to carry His message to others?
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