Shine

  Today, I would like to offer a word of encouragement to anyone called to serve publicly.  Perhaps God has temporarily placed you where you are not regularly serving in that capacity (preaching, teaching, whatever), but make no mistake...the calling is still there, the fire still shut up in your bones.  (Jeremiah 20)  Man may try to extinguish it, but their efforts are wasted against the fire of God's calling.  Man may try to hide it, but rest assured it will burn right through anything they plant in its way.  (Matthew 5)  So, before I get to the gist of what God is speaking to my heart, I want to be clear that, though God may place us in a season of waiting or change how He is currently using us, His calling has not changed.  When Paul wrote in Romans 11:29 that "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance," he meant that God is never sorry He called us, and He never intends to revoke the calling.   I think when those of us called to speak go through silent times, God is teaching us a more sincere form of service...one that is more like Christ than any words spoken from a stage.
       There is no greater satisfaction to be found in ministry than seeing others and creating opportunities for them to use their gifts.  And when I say seeing them, I mean, really seeing them...taking time to hear their concerns, study their mannerisms, see what brings a spark to their eye, considering their strengths, their insecurities, seeing manifest what seems to be the thing they aspire to do, but feel incapable of accomplishing or even beginning.  And here's what I have learned in regard to that part of our calling as leaders - When Jesus spoke of the light in us (Matthew 5), He said it should be placed on a candle stick.  I'm afraid many of us have mistaken this to mean a stage. 
     When I feel frustrated over not having opportunities to use the gifts of my calling, I try to remember that the lamp in my home is more important than the streetlight outside.  Both are important, and while the streetlight is seen by more people, it serves a very short-term purpose and will never really meet close, personal, daily needs.  When I lose my way in the night, I don't reach for the streetlight.  When I need to see those I love so I can help meet their needs, the lamp serves a much greater purpose.  Even outside my home, I can carry that light to others in need.  The streetlight can provide general guidance, but it doesn't light the living room of the lonely widow or reach into the shadows of the wayward child.  It rarely leaves the ninety-nine to seek out the one lost sheep. 
     Much like the streetlight, though more dangerous and less effective is the spotlight.  Social media has made our spotlights more mobile, but they're still spotlights.  The thing about spotlights is you don't see much past them.  They will rarely illuminate much beyond the person at center stage.  And while we can all be blinded by who or what is being showcased, no one's vision is as distorted as the one on-stage.  Spotlights can reveal some very important things to us about ourselves or others, but be reminded that all it reveals is how you  look on stage.  You may be "lit", but remember that real ministry goes beyond the platform.  If your hands are only lifted on stage and never worn by service, you will never know true fulfillment.  In your darkest, loneliest time...you're going to need something more direct than the spotlight. Even more, the world needs lights placed on candlesticks...people willing to step off stage and light the everyday darkness people are facing.
     If you are in a season of life that seemingly feels like a "time out", you are not being punished.  In this time that seems like the lights have gone out, they haven't gone out at all.  People may be trying to hide your light, but they cannot extinguish what God has set ablaze in you.  Right now, you're learning what it really means to be the light of the world.  Because the light Jesus (not man) sets on a candlestick gives light to "all that are in the house", not only to ourselves.  So "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  I promise He deserves all the glory.