Thursday, February 9, 2012

Reflect the Son...

Please read Leviticus 10-12 and Acts 16 if you're interested in reading the Bible through in a year.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. -Acts 16:25 (NIV)

A Facebook friend alerted me to the beautiful moon that was shining earlier this week. I went outside to see it. It was breathtaking. Whenever I see the moon, I am reminded of what the moon does: it reflects the rays of the sun into the dark night. Then I am reminded that I am called to do something very similar: reflect the rays of God's Son into the darkness of our world.

We encounter a similar reminder in today's assigned reading. Paul and several others were met by a female slave who was possessed by a spirit. Paul became so annoyed that he commanded the spirit to come out of her (in the name of Jesus) and this action landed him and Silas in jail.

When I visited the Holy Land a few years ago, I toured what was believed to be a jail during the time of Jesus. This jail was more like a dungeon: small, dark, and damp. Much like our jails today, this jail was likely overcrowded with many hardened criminals. Places like this were meant to instill fear and isolation.

But Paul and Silas were not overcome with fear in their jail cell; they were overcome with worship. Like our moon, they saw their existence as an opportunity to reflect the rays of the Son into the darkness of that cell.

Even after the earthquake, when their shackles had been broken and they were free to leave, they remained in the jail cell because the jailer was contemplating suicide. They decided to be a light in his darkness. They treated his life as more important than their own. And it made a difference: the jailer decided not to take his own life and he and his entire family came to faith in Christ and were baptized.

May God grant you the grace to be light in someone's darkness today. There's no telling what kind of difference you can make.

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