Shine Bright

We now have this light shining in oour hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:7-9

Once again we find that God has never promised us a life of luxury and riches just for following him.  

No, the opposite is true.  Things will be hard.  But the good news is we don’t have to endure alone.  God protects us, not necessarily from the trouble but from being destroyed by it.

Why?  Why would he not lift us up above troubles on this earth?  

For the same reason that He sent His son down to earth.  To experience this life..  to be able to say “I know….  and I also know a better way.”

Consider the first verse in this passage.  We are fragile jars of clay.”  Then look further and see what we will endure…  we are pressed, hunted, and knocked down…  but never to the point of destruction.  

But the jars are fragile, and although they are not destroyed, they are likely cracked.  Fissures run like veins on these jars showing the true story of all they have been through.  

Consider what is inside.  Power.  God.  Light.  

Every crack, every wound, is simply an opening for the power of God to pour out of us and onto someone else.  We are essentially lamps, shining brighter in each trial.  

Without the light of God, these wounds are just ugly reminders of pain…  but with God, they are beautiful illuminating stories of survival that draw people to God and His amazing grace.

Shine bright today.