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About four years ago, a family gave a gift to our congregation in memory of a loved one who had gone to see Jesus face to face. After some discussion, it was decided to use it for new lighting throughout our facility. Almost all of the lights in our building were changed over to LEDs, which are brighter and more efficient than the fluorescent bulbs they replaced.

When Cheryl and I built and moved into our new home in 2017, we used LED lighting exclusively for the same reasons.

LED lighting shows up in hats and Christmas lights and automobiles and just about any application you can think of.

LED stands for Light Emitting Diodes. They can be bright or dim and made to shine with every color in the spectrum. They are a different kind of light bulb. They operate because of something called electroluminescence. Because the power goes into them, light comes out.

As those who have been led to faith in Jesus, you have been designed to shine. Each of you is to be an LED: Light Emitting Disciple. His light has shined into your hearts, and now it is to shine through you. How will that look? It will be different for each of you. Just as LEDs cover every part of the spectrum, so should Light Emitting Disciples! The important thing is to shine.

I read about a gathering of Christian teens in Germany several years ago. They were from countries all around the world. For two weeks these young folks ate together, worked together, and played together. At the end of the day’s official activities, they would sit and visit with one another. One night they were discussing the different ways individuals and churches share the story of salvation. Some teens from more technologically advanced countries talked about sharing Jesus through mass media and social media and handheld communication devices.

Of course, not all countries are technologically advanced, and some of the group were from such countries. One student who had been talking a lot noticed the silence of those who did not have the same technology, so she asked one of them: “Maria, how do you tell people about Jesus in your country?”

Maria said, “we don’t have TV or radio programs about Jesus. Most of the time we don’t have the money to purchase pamphlets or other things to give away. Generally what we’ve done in the past is send one or two Christian families to live and work in a village. We’ve found that when people see what Christians are like, then they want to be Christians too.”

Wow! Let that sink in for a minute. Would that be true of us? You and I have been led to know and believe that Jesus is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord and our God, the one who paid the penalty for sin so that we could be forgiven. Is that reflected in our daily walk and talk? Scripture tells us it should be so.

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:12)

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

You have been designed to shine with the Light of Christ as a Light Emitting Disciple. And you may be the one the Holy Spirit will work through to lead someone else to faith in Jesus.

The assigned Psalm for this past Sunday in the lectionary was Psalm 1.  At the worship service Cheryl and I attended, the pastor used this as his text and did an excellent job of tying it in to the other lessons read that day:  Jeremiah 17:5-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-20, and Luke 6:17-26.  Take a moment to read this Psalm right now.

Psalm 1 “¹ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. ² But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. ⁴ Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. ⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

One of the things the preacher pointed out that caught my attention was verse 1. It mentions “walks”, “stands”, and “sits”, things you do every day of your life. In other words, the Psalmist is saying “as you go about living your life, avoid sin and sinners.” Such a simple, straightforward suggestion, one that makes all the sense in the world. So why do we fail to heed it?

We are even given a better option as well. Verse 2 encourages us to delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on that. (It should be pointed out that “law” is being used here to mean all of God’s Word, not just the Commandments or the “dos” and “don’ts.”) If you spend your time thinking about what God has told us, what He has done for us, and how He would have us respond, that is going to make a difference. Considering the whole counsel of God, you can apply what you hear and read in God’s Word to your daily living.

I know that is true for me. I’m a long way from being the ideal follower of Jesus. I mess up constantly. But when I reflect on what God did by sending Jesus into this world, I am overwhelmed. His life was lived for me. His death paid for my sin. His resurrection is my guarantee of eternal life. And that is my motivation to live a better life.

“The Lord watches over the way of the righteous.” That’s me, not because I have done good, but because God declares me righteous for Jesus’ sake. Hopefully that is you, too.