"He was the burning and shining lamp."
These are the Lord's own words concerning the short life and brilliant testimony of John the Baptist, and what a testimony it was!
What about you and me? When our lives are summed up in the end, by the Lord, will the conclusion be, he or she, was a burning and a shining lamp.
Here are some good Scriptures on this subject to keep in mind: "Ye are the light of the world."
"Let your light so shine before men."
"Ye shine as lights in the world."
None of us knows how much longer we have to shine for Christ, here in this world. Another day, another month...another year... Let us be like those described in Luke 12:3535Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; (Luke 12:35). "Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning."
As people turn away from the light of God's Word, it is good to realize that the only light they are going to see is what shines out in the life of a believer.
Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, served in a military hospital in Turkey during the Crimean War. It was her custom to take a lamp each evening and make her rounds through the hospital wards, thus making one last check on the wounded and dying soldiers before retiring to her room. In this way she became known as the Lady with the Lamp. The soldiers would eagerly await the glow of her lamp as she checked on them for the final time that day. In the same way we can shine for the comfort, healing, encouragement, and blessing of others, but most of all for the glory of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you shone brightly today in the dark corner where you have been placed? As the children sing: " Jesus bids us shine... You in your small comer, and I in mine."
Shine for Jesus,
Shine for Him!
Do not let the lamp grow dim.
Shine for Him!
As a bright,
A gleaming light,
Burning through this world's dark night.
Shine for Him!