His Light
By Abby Phinney, 13, Indiana
He was standing in a lighted room, a closed closet door beside him. He opened the door, and light streamed into the once-dark closet.
What was the point of this little exhibition? The man demonstrating explained, “Darkness does not take over light. Light takes over darkness. When I opened that door, darkness did not fill the room. No, the light lit up the closet.”
It’s the same with the Gospel. In Scripture, God says, “… if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 NLT). Before we knew Him, we were in the dark, bumping into walls. We had no idea where the door was, if there was one at all. We tried to make our own light in different ways, searching for happiness in things that could never fully illumine our lives.
Then God opened the door, letting His radiance stream in on us. Those who accept the light are filled with His joy and no longer need to fear the dark. “For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Now that we have seen God’s light, He sends us out into the world to open doors for others who “are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are to reflect what we were given to those still lost and stumbling around in the dark. For “we now have this light shining in our hearts … we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke’” (2 Corinthians 3:7, 13).
It’s important that we share about our faith. But when I was reminded of this in church one Sunday, I rebelled at first. I didn’t want to do anything that would take me outside my comfort zone. But Jesus says, “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house” (Matthew 5:15). So let’s do our best to reflect the saving light of Christ into the darkness of this world, and “shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise [our] heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:16). To God be the glory, amen.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...YOG: Longing for Unity
By Chaz Oswald, 22, USA
YOG Closing Ceremony
Amazing lights, dance choreography, music, and spectacular fireworks marked the grand finale of the first-ever Youth Olympic Games (YOG) held in Singapore. As customary traditions would have it, the Olympic flag was passed to the next host nation for the 2014 YOG summer games, China.
The closing ceremony began with all 3,600 athletes entering the Marina Bay floating platform. They came in together with no distinction in nations. Instead, they represented the unity of the world as “One Nation.”
The idea of a “one world nation” is not a new concept. Many have strived and are still looking for utopia. As a case-in-point, the late-great John Lennon famously sung these lyrics, “Imagine there’s no countries . . . and the world will live as one.”
The danger is that many who strive after world unity fall prey to the deception that unity means uniformity. Like the notion reverberating in Lennon’s lyrics, the world calls us to shed that which “separates” us such as our religion and national identity to achieve unity.
Biblical unity is much different from that of the World’s. God desires unity. The diversity in the church, not uniformity, only acts to promote oneness.
The body of Christ consists of individual members with diverse functions (1 Corinthians 12:12). When each individual performs their spiritual function, the body comes together in unity as it takes on the same mind, the same love, and the same purpose. This sense of unity goes to the point that, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad” (1 Corinthians 12:26).
This unity was made possible because Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection has given us something common, eternal life. This unity was from the beginning and it existed within the trinity. Now, we are able to be in fellowship with Jesus and His people, the Church.
It may not be a Lennon-type-harmony, but the unity created in the body of Christ, in the words of king David, is indeed “wonderful and pleasant” (Psalm 133:1)!
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...The Gift of Friendship
By Melisa Manampiring, Indonesia
In my younger days, I used to be a bookworm. My time was spent mainly in studying, going to school and attending church services. I was dead focused on getting the best grades at school. I was a quiet person and my schoolmates considered me strange. I felt that socializing would bring my grades down until I met an upperclassman in my second year of junior high school. He is also my cousin.
My cousin freely offers his time to help others with schoolwork. He always put others before himself. Yet, he is still able to win many national and international mathematics and physics competitions. To relax, he reads comics, plays games and hangs out with his friends. Through his life, I learnt that one could work hard and play hard too.
Due to his example, I decided to get more involved in my church community by agreeing to be the treasurer in the teen group for 2 years. I also learnt to open my heart to friendship. But my life in junior high school remained unexciting. I studied at an elite, private school where the majority of the students come from well-to-do families. They socialize with people of the same wealth and status only.
However, it was a different scenario in senior high school. The students were from different backgrounds, of different social status, and of different ethnic groups and religions. I was blessed with 3 new friends, who are very different from each other, and who are still my close friends today. They have taught me precious lessons on the real meaning of friendship and life.
For example, they have taught me to . . .
1. Treasure people more than material things.
2. Care for others and not be egotistical.
3. Be willing to spend time to build meaningful relationships.
I thank God for these friends and my cousin whom God has brought into my life. They were His instruments in shaping me to become whom I am today. In Proverbs 28:7, we read: “Young people who obey the law are wise; those with wild friends bring shame to their parents” (NLT). The implication of this verse is clear: we need friends who will help us obey God’s law.
(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5) Loading ...An Email
By Tracy Phua, 22, Singapore
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010
From: Yadav
Subject: sad newsDear Sister Tracy,
Jayamashia!
Of late, the situation in our school is not good. It is dangerous. The principal and teachers from a neighboring school have been planning many strategies to remove our school from Chutopal. They saw much progress in our school and the quality education that the children have. As a result, their school enrolment has dropped. Nowadays they have brought bad people to do bad things. On Friday, they sent three bad people to our school. They threatened to kill one of the teachers. Before we could reach the school, they had already fled. They also threatened to go to Sandu Dai’s house tonight to beat us up. Hence, we have called other people to come by Sandu Dai’s house. However they have a big group of bad people and they have no qualms about killing people. So they can do anything to us. They have all sorts of weapons (knife, gun, others). Therefore, nowadays our lives are endangered. However our hope, trust, belief and prayer is in our God who protects us always, everyday and everywhere. So, we need your prayers.
The students are having exams these few days. We have asked the school board members to come everyday to watch over the safety of the school and teachers.
Take care and God bless you always,
Yadav Dai
Yadav Dai and Sandu Dai are two of my Nepalese friends who serve in Chutopal. They need our prayers.
Yadav Dai graduated from a Bible College in Kathmandu recently. He has decided to give his life to serving the Lord in the village of Chutopal, deep in the North-eastern hills of Nepal. Sandu Dai is the pastor of the Chutopal village church. He also houses the teachers from the school and farms chickens for eggs, which he gives to the churchgoers at no charge.
The village school that they helped to set up has more than seventy students, with five classes in total ranging from nursery to year two. Due to the dedication of Yadav Dai, Sandu Dai and the teaching staff, the school has grown in recognition and numbers. This led to fierce jealousy from the principal of a neighboring school and armed men were sent over to kill one of the teachers. In addition, they planned to ambush Sandu Dai’s house in the night to beat him and the other teachers. These armed men have killed people prior to this and the villagers of Chutopal are helpless to their advances.
Let us pray along with our fellow believers in Chutopal. Ask our Lord for His divine intervention over the situation in Chutopal, and for His mercies on the children at the school and the teachers. Pray also for Yadav Dai and Sandu Dai that their faith in His unfailing faithfulness may grow from strength to strength despite these setbacks. Lastly, pray for God to raise up more faithful servants to carry His light in such times and in Nepal.
For more prayer requests on Nepal, visit: http://www.gfa.org/pray/nepal/
* Names of the people and places have been changed due to the sensitive nature of the work in Nepal.
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