The Light of the World

Let Your Light Shine

Luke 11: 33-36

No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.  If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

We are familiar with the premise here, every year for the last few years our hashtag for Christmas posts have been #LightTheWorld so the idea of being a light in the darkness is not new.  The question I am posing today is do you really understand how we are the light of the world? I can tell you my version and am happy to accept comments on what your version is.

As a light in the world our behavior and words need to match. If we say something is right then we must act on what we say. People notice behavior and they really notice when what you say doesn't match what you do. We are a light just by living our beliefs. Helping, forgiving, serving, reading and studying our scriptures, showing mercy, and even the simple act of following the word of wisdom. I have had people ask me if I am a Mormon just because they had realized I don't drink coffee (I work in a call center, I am absolutely in the minority regarding coffee).

Putting out light in a secret place or under a bushel (hiding who we are and what we believe) will not draw others to the light. Jesus goes on to say "Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness" I am open to corrections here but I take this to be a warning to those like the Pharisees - who flaunt their good deeds and prayer in public but its all a show and not what they really believe. Doing good deeds when they don't mean them but only to gather attention. Examine your testimony, be sincere in your beliefs, and live your talk and you will be a light unto the world. 

What doest thou here, Elijah?

Answering the Lord and Finding the Spirit

In 1 Kings Chapter 19 Jezebel finds out about Elijah facing down the prophets of Baal and killing them. Her response to the deaths of the false prophets is that she wants Elijah to be killed also.

When Elijah hears of this, he disappears into the wilderness, first stopping to sleep under a juniper tree a day’s journey in (v 4) and asked the Lord to die.  His request was not granted and an angel appeared to him and brought him food and water. After eating, he slept again. The angel returned with more food and bid him to eat warning him that the journey would be too great for him. The food the angel feed him sustained him for a 40 day and night journey to Horeb where he stayed in a cave and the Lord found him and asked him a question “What doest thou here, Elijah?”

The modern interpretation of this would be “What are you doing here Elijah?”

Elijah doesn’t get sulky or petulant. He is very self-aware

v 10 “And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

It is worth noting that jealous in this case means resentful or angry.  

Elijah who is the prophet who is to be speaking with the Children of Israel is angry with them for forsaking the covenants, destroying the alters, slaying the prophets until he is the only one left. I personally, don’t blame him a bit. I faced similar feelings just reading about it last semester over 3000 years later. The Lord tells Elijah to go stand on the mountain and sends the wind and earthquake against the mountain and then a fire. He shows Elijah how to find Him. That He is not in the wind, the earthquake or fire, He show Elijah the Holy Spirit –the still small voice.  What an amazing gift. And the Lord asks him again what he is doing here- it is remarkable the answer does not change. He is still angry with the Children of Israel, and the Lord sends Him back with instructions.

There are some great lessons in this interaction between Elijah and the Lord. Elijah fled in part because his life was in danger but mostly because he was angry. The people he was trying to teach who were supposed to be following the covenants were forsaking their oaths, destroying the alters and killing the prophets. When asked by the Lord he owned up to his anger and was rewarded with a great gift, learning of the Holy Spirit.

Many people today mistake the Spirit, and 1 Kings 19:11-12 show us without a doubt that the Holy Spirit is not in the wind, it is not in any natural disaster that befalls the earth be it fire, flood, or earthquake. The Holy Spirit is a still small voice. D&C 8:2-3 explains further that the spirit of revelation is the Holy Spirit, which will come upon you and dwell in your heart. The Spirit is in your heart. Some people feel it as a burning in the heart (Luke 24:31-32) others may feel it as a prickling (Acts 2:37) I personally have also felt goosebumps when in the presence of truth.  The Holy Spirit communicates with you, but you have to listen but without a doubt, He is within you not in the wind and fire.

Dance Before the Lord

Continuing Contemplation on King David

This week in my communication class we set aside our text book and concentrated on the topic of Spiritual Communication. As children of our Heavenly Father we have a relationship with Him and any relationship must be maintained with communication. Prayer is how we speak to our Father, the Scriptures are a written record of His word and the Spirit, the Priesthood and the Prophets are lines of communication that He has established back to us. 

King David, from what I understand, lived in a time of oral teaching. The commandments written in stone, carried in the Ark were the only writings of Gods word the rest were taught and prayer and prophets who carried His word were vitally important. The Holy Spirit was still a occasional gift, He was not the Comforter that came to all after Jesus left. David followed the Lord with less tools that we have at our disposal and did so building a nation and waging war to strengthen Israel.  What an immense task, what a strong relationship David had with the Lord. Strong enough that when David asked to build a Temple to honor the Lord and was refused he did not argue, he did not sulk, he praised the Lord for His blessings upon his line and continued.

King David was not perfect but his relationship with the Lord and how he treated Saul and his family are wonderful examples, his relationship with the Lord is even a better one. The Lord was his Master and being in the presence of his Master made him so happy that he danced. Let us all be joyful and dance before the Lord.

Let Go and Let God

Let Go and Let God

The phrase Let Go and Let God used to be a "thing" at least when I was in high school. I have mentioned I am a convert to the church. In high school I was heavily involved in a local Baptist church were I lived.  Let Go and Let God meant you were giving God control of your life. I have got to say that is so much easier to say at 16 than at 42. I don't think Joseph's life turned out how he thought it would (either Joseph - son of Jacob or Joseph Smith Jr. but for now we will stick to Joseph son of Jacob). He was hated by his brothers who were jealous of him and they sold him into slavery then to  protect themselves told their father he was dead. He ended up being the property of the Pharaoh, having to fend of seduction attempts by the Pharaoh's wife and being thrown into jail. It would have been easy to give up. It would have been easy to forget the God of his fathers and worship whoever everyone else was in order to fit in, because you know he did not fit in with the rest of the household.  There was no religious support group there to help him. Joseph did none of these things, he stayed true and in the end was rewarded with a reunited family and the ability to help them when they truly needed help. 

I am not advocating making no decisions and "leaving it all up to God" that is a great way to become homeless. He gave us minds and reasoning abilities for a reason. He expects us to think and reason. However, I think that maybe the step that we might forget sometimes is to ask His opinion on decisions, and not just the big one. I can't imagine a better situation than to eventually be so in tune with the Holy Spirit that I can feel when a decision is wrong and I don't mean an ethical decision, I mean a life decision. I have a mental image of walking down life's path with Jesus guiding us around the turns and corners. He knows the way and what the best route is, we are the ones doing this blind, maybe we should listen to the guy with the map :)