Whilst away with my famiy in Sri-Lanka, i took some timeout to start reflecting and writing my next message in the I AM series, I AM the light of the world. Believe me when i say there are much worse places you can be when writing a message than on the golden beaches of Sri-Lanka!!!
You know there was a test done that asked the question if you crash landed into a desert, and you could only take three items from the plane, which three items would you take (not the best thing to be thinking about as i was only two days away from flying home!). But the top three things where… coming in at number three was a knife, this was so you could cut the cacti to get much needed water. Number two was a pharachute, this was because you would need cover from the relentless sun. And the number one object you should take was…drum role please…a mirror!
You see if you where stranded in a desert and people where looking for you from the sky a mirror could be essential to them finding you. What you would need to do is hold the mirror upwards and the light of the sun would reflect back to them and they would then see you.
You see Jesus is the light of this world, and as christians in Preston, as a Church in Preston Lancashire we should be reflecting that light to others. When we think about the issues people in Preston are dealing with, Carey Baptist Church, we as christians should be reflecting the light of Jesus to those people that are experiencing darkness. In Preston people are suffering depression,in Preston people are suffering with anxiety, here in Preston people are experiencing redundancy, family struggles, Illness and many other things.In short a lot of people are experiencing a lot of darkness!
As Christians we also experience these things, Psalm 23 never tells us we won’t go into the Valley of Darkness, but it does say that HE will walk with us through it and thats his light working in our life when we experience struggles.
We need to reflect that light to others around us right here in Preston, as individuals and as a Church.
Here is a question for us all to ponder, If the lights went out at Carey Baptist Church tomorrow…who would be affected?
It’s a big question, it’s a tough question, but it’s a question that i believe we should all ask. Because we need to tell the people of Preston what we hear Jesus telling us in John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”
WE NEED TO REFLECT THE LIGHT OF JESUS ONTO THOSE AROUND US.