Keep Your Lamp Burning – Kristen Whiteley

Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning. Luke 12:35 NIV

The words haunted my soul in a deep-down, glorious way. Who shall abide the day of his coming? As I listened to this particular aria from Handel’s Messiah, the operatic refrain echoed through my mind and heart. I suddenly wondered, as I folded laundry, if I was ready for the Lord’s coming? If he sundered the sky right now with otherworldly light, would I be overjoyed? Frightened? Heavy-hearted or grieved at all about how I have spent my time?

The words of Luke sprang into my epochal thoughts: “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning.” I think of an Old Testament Israelite priest dressed in fine linen and bearing the costly stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel on his breastplate, continually interceding for the people, bearing up the ones whom he wore over his heart. He dressed for service. He also had to keep the lamp in the Tent of Meeting always burning. The sign of God’s presence in the fire would never be distinguished as long as the priest fulfilled his service. 

Eschatology has a time and place, but the simple command of the Lord tugs more persuasively at my heart. As an ambassador of Christ, how am I serving the Lord and his people? Is my lamp ever-burning for Jesus? Are my words a sign that his Presence indwells me? Are my actions proof? 

I think those who shall abide his coming are the ones who remain faithful to the end, dressed for service, ready for action, watchful, hearts aflame. 

When we get up in the morning, even as we dress for the day, let us dress ourselves for service, ready for whatever God might have us do. 

Lord God, may we who proclaim your name keep our lamps burning, that we may be ready for your coming. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Kristen Whiteley agrees with her father that poetry is a way of seeing the world. In between discipling three young children and home-keeping, she leads worship and writes as a way to process her ponderings. Kristen is passionate about creation, the cross, community, classic literature, and homesteading.

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Be Your Best - Martin Wiles

Wishing all our supporters a very Merry Christmas. 

Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6 NLT

“We won’t see anyone here we know,” I remarked to my wife.

Not that I wanted to do anything that would shame me. It’s just that everywhere my wife and I go, we seem to run into someone we know. But we were now in Savannah, Georgia. Two friends of ours had taken us on an overnight trip, all expenses paid. My wife had not visited Savannah since she was three years old, and I had not paid a visit in seventeen years.

After spending the night on nearby Tybee Island, eating breakfast there the next morning, and visiting a local lighthouse, we made our way to Savannah. We visited Bonaventure Cemetery and then made our way to River Street where we planned to walk the Factor Walk.

No sooner had we started, than we saw a couple waving at us. Sure enough, we knew them. They were friends from a previous church where we had once attended.

“What’s the chance of that happening?” I asked my wife after our brief conversation with them.

Then I texted Mom and told her. Her response? “Always be on your best behavior.” I guess a child never gets too old to receive good advice from a parent.

The same holds true when the advice comes from God. Through John, the oldest living apostle, God reminds us we should always live our lives as Jesus did.

Jesus always followed the plan of His heavenly Father, never wavering even a little bit. He imitated the Father, telling others He always did what the Father did and that He always spoke as the Father spoke.

Being our best also entails monitoring our physical and spiritual health. Our bodies are temples of God’s Spirit, so it matters what we put in them. God has plans for His children and a time frame for them to accomplish them in. Ruining our physical health with addictive substances or with too much of any good thing—play toys and busyness included—can shortcut God’s plan. Forgetting to engage in spiritual disciplines—or just doing them on a sporadic basis—makes us spiritually unhealthy and prevents us from being our best.

When we’re on our best behavior, we’ll handle God’s truth correctly. When we do, we’ll live it out daily in our thoughts, emotions, actions, and words. And even if we don’t run into anyone we know, God will be pleased.

Wherever you are, be on your best spiritual behavior.

Prayer: Father, help us to be on our best behavior, wherever we are.

Tweetable: Are you being your best at all times? 

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Killing Off God - Martin Wiles

I would not allow shame to be brought on my name among the surrounding nations who saw me reveal myself by bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Ezekiel 20:9 NLT

I had killed off God—although not intentionally.

In one of his sermons, Frederick Buechner told of a pre-teen who, in a fit of anger, secured a gun and shot his father. Although the father didn’t die immediately, he did soon afterward. When the authorities asked the boy why he had shot his father, he told them because he could not stand his father. His father demanded too much of him, so he hated him.

Authorities placed the young boy in jail. Late one night, as the guard patrolled the corridor, he heard sounds coming from the boy’s cell. He stopped to listen and heard the boy wailing, “I want my father, I want my father.” But he couldn’t get him back. He had killed him.

I became a believer at a young age, but when I approached the teenage years, I felt the same way as the young man. I hated my father’s demands and the rules he instigated. I never wanted to kill him, but I did express my hatred for him and Mom often—although under my breath. I chose to rebel…to live like an unbeliever. And by doing so for many years, I killed off God’s witness through me.

Atheist Friedrich Nietzsche, in his work, The Gay Science, wrote, “Have you not heard of the man who lit a lamp on a bright morning and went to the marketplace crying ceaselessly, ‘I seek God. I seek God’…They laughed, and…the man sprang into their midst and looked daggers at them. ‘Where is God?’ he cried. ‘I tell you. We have killed Him, you and I.’”

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God reminds the people why He didn’t kill them during the wilderness years, even though they were killing God off. God wanted to preserve His name. Had He eliminated the Israelites because of their disobedience, the surrounding nations—who worshipped other gods—would have looked at Israel’s God as a wimp…if they looked to Him at all. A God who wasn’t able to deliver on His promise to bring His people to the Promised Land.

God is God, so, of course, we can’t kill Him off literally, but we can practically. When we live in ways that dishonor His name, we kill Him off. His witness won’t flow through us. When we don’t do the good things we should do, we kill Him off because His presence doesn’t show forth through our lives and impact others as it should.

We can easily prevent killing off God by making sure everything we do and say puts the spotlight on Him—or to use biblical language, brings glory to His name. When we’re careful of the words we speak, the attitudes we have, and the actions we take, we let God shine through us.

Asking what Jesus might do in all of our situations helps God live because Jesus always did the will of His Father. This involves listening to the still small voice of the Spirit, whom God has given us as a seal that we belong to Him. Living in a spirit of prayer also keeps God alive. In this way, we’re continually in tune with Him.

Make up your mind that you’ll live in such a way that you don’t kill off God.

Prayer: Father, may we let Your light shine brightly through us.

Tweetable: What do your actions say about God? 

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Throwback Tuesday - What Will Your Bio Say? - Martin Wiles

What Will Your Bio Say?

At the end of my life, what will my biography say? Will I be proud or ashamed?

My bookshelves house a number of biographies about famous individuals. People who were presidents, people who held high-ranking political offices, people who occupied notary positions, and people who simply made their mark on history. 

I doubt a biography about me will ever be written, but whether my biography ever makes it into print is immaterial—I’m writing it every day. And like a written biography, it includes such things as where I’ve worked, who belongs in my family, and the accomplishments I’ve made. More importantly, what I’ve done for others, my moral stance, and my emotional reactions will also be recorded. Read more...

Tweetable: What will your bio say?

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Singing the Light - Martin Wiles

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Psalm100:1-2 NKJV

She sauntered over to our table and asked my wife, “Can you sing?”

My wife and I were on a weekend trip to visit a church where I would preach Homecoming. The distance required staying in a hotel in a nearby town—one that served hot continental breakfasts.

As we made our way down Sunday morning to eat, we met Alice, one of the breakfast attendants. She greeted my wife with, “Honey, your hair looks sooooo good.”

My wife laughed, thanked her, and fixed her breakfast. When we had finished our meal, Alice slid over and quietly asked my wife if she could sing. Then she said, “Sing something, and I’ll sing with you.” Before I knew it, they were singing, “I’ll Fly Away.”

Soon, Alice had retrieved a song on her phone from YouTube. She sang along with the artist, harmonizing beautifully. For the next five minutes. I felt the tension rise along my spine. I wondered if the manager who stood nearby in the next room would fire her. I wondered if a patron might speak up and ask her to be quiet. One had huffed, rose, threw his plate away, and walked out.

Alice didn’t care. She sang her heart out and continued her joyful morning routine. Much as the psalmist must have when he told others to make a joyful noise to the Lord, to serve Him with gladness, and to enter His presence with singing. Exactly what Alice was doing.

Alice sang her light and encouraged others to do so also. The same thing Jesus did when He preached His Sermon on the Mount and challenged the people to let their lights shine. Lights hidden under something defeated the purpose of lighting them.

Alice sang without shame. Her husband was incarcerated, but she didn’t let that dampen her spirit. She joyfully sang to her Lord and encouraged us—and anyone else—to join her.

And Alice sang regardless of opposition. She may have later been reprimanded—or fired. I’ll never know. She may have offended more than the one person who left the room. Somehow, I don’t think Alice cared. She sang her light and would continue to do so—whether at the hotel or somewhere else.

Alice’s actions convicted me. Perhaps they do you, too. So go ahead and sing your song for Christ—regardless of where you are and despite others reactions.

Tweetable: Whose praises are you singing?

Prayer: Father, place a song in our hearts that we can’t help but share with others.

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The Table Light - Martin Wiles

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16 KJV

Crazy is taking two young children to a restaurant and trying to enjoy a meal.

My daughter refuses to take her two and four-year-old out to eat. They are loud and rambunctious. She can’t enjoy her meal and is totally flustered by the time the whole episode is over. My wife and I aren’t so afraid. We’re also older and mellower.

We have taught our grandsons to say the blessing before meals, so when our food arrived the oldest piped up that he was going to say the blessing. At this point, all the two-year-old can get out is “God is.” Did I mention they were loud? And they were. His blessing was loud enough for every waiter, waitress, cook, patron, and manager to hear. I asked him to say it quieter. He obeyed, but had to start over again. Then he had to start over again because I didn’t have my hands folded properly. By the time he was through, everyone’s food had been blessed whether they wanted it to be or not.

I was soon embarrassed for another reason: that I had asked him to say it quieter. He wasn’t ashamed to let anyone or everyone know he loved God and was thankful for the food God provided. My blessings are normally so low the person in the next booth would have to strain to hear. My grandson was doing a better job of letting his light shine than I do.

Levi was doing what Jesus instructed His followers to do: letting his light shine. The light that proclaimed he loved God. The light that proclaimed he was thankful. No doubt others saw his light. Hopefully, some thanked God that we had taught him to give thanks to God for the food.

Letting our lights shine isn’t about us. There is a purpose, but it’s not so others will pat us on the back. Our shining lights should be shined with the intention that others will come to know the God we serve. After all, He is the one who gives us the courage and power to let our lights shine. Jesus said if we deny Him He will deny us before the Father. Personally, I’d rather be accepted by the Father.

Let your light shine brightly before others. Never be ashamed of the One who gave His life for you.

Tweetable: How brightly is your light shining?

Prayer: Father, give us the opportunities and the courage to let our testimony for You shine brightly before others. 

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