Let Your Life Shine

Alba 1-28-24

LET YOUR LIFE SHINE

I Thessalonians 4:9-12

The military has a history of requiring that boots be polished until they shine. If you have served in the military, you are probably familiar with the involved process that it takes to achieve that shine.

There are websites that explain the process and the hours it takes to get the perfect shine. On a website called “Spotter Up” there is an article entitled “Boots and Utes: Shining Boots and Maintaining your Uniform” By Michael Kurcina.

He wrote: “Most everyone I know has used the spit shine method. Some swear by spit, others by water. This is going to take a lot of time so you better have a lot of patience. I used to be very obsessive about having my boots shiny and competed with my Marine brothers. I think many of us can recall the hours we spent getting our boots looking incredible. I experimented with many different methods; some worked and some didn’t.”

But then he adds, “The use of boot polish to shine military boots has waned in this country for a lot of service people and for very practical reasons. Yet this art of patience is still practiced. A lot of effort in the beginning to make your boots look good pays off in the end. Thereafter, just a bit of maintenance is needed.”

And he says, “It takes patience and discipline to get them looking good, and the quality of someone’s boots and shoes might tell a story about the quality of the service person.”

In other words, if you want others to think well of you, make your shoes shine! There is a lesson there for us as Christians. If we want to have influence in this world, we had better shine. We need to let our life shine so that others will be attracted to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And notice I said “life” not “light”. Of course if our life is a shining example of Christ-likeness, we will be providing godly light in this dark world.

So how do we do it? How do we let our life shine for our Lord? An answer can be found in I Thessalonians 4:9-12. As the apostle Paul writes to these Christians, he gives some good advice as to how they can shine for Jesus. Lets read:

9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. (NKJV)

The J.B. Phillips Translation has verse 12, “The result will be a reputation for honesty in the world outside .” And the New Living Translation says, “Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live.”

In other words if we follow the guidelines just given in these verses it will help us, as it says in Philippians 2:15, to “become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”.

1. So again, how? First we need to “love one another” as it says in verse 9. They say that love is the universal language. When non-Christians see love displayed within the church, it gives them something to wish they had. The word love in this verse is the kind that cares for others. It is “brotherly love”.

Some time ago the Associated Press conducted a survey of 39 different Protestant denominations. And they asked one question: "What is the number one factor that causes congregations to grow?" They wondered if there were any factors that can be found in every growing church regardless of doctrine, denomination, location, culture, etc?

Well, it wasn’t the preaching. It wasn’t the presence of a children’s ministry. And it wasn’t air conditioning. On the basis of the survey, they discovered that the number one characteristic of a growing church was the atmosphere of love among the membership.

The Press concluded that people everywhere are looking for love, and if Christians really began to love each other the way God would want us to, then we would have to lock the doors to keep the people away.

The greatest compliment a church can receive is that it is a loving church. They will know we are Christians by our love. I so appreciate the love that is expressed by and to our people here. It is a good thing.