Light of Life

Brennan Manning, Christian author and recovering alcoholic, said “I don’t need to apply spiritual cosmetics to make myself presentable to Him.  I can accept ownership of my poverty and powerlessness and neediness.” 

I’ll go farther.  Until we accept our poverty of spirit, our need for God to fill that vacuum, and our complete inability to do so for ourselves, our growth as disciples will be stunted.

I’ve said before that the men and women who come to Light of Life have a distinct advantage over many in the Church.  They are broken and know it.  They know they have nowhere else to go…that they’ve burned all their bridges…that every attempt to fix their problem on their own has failed.  They are desperate and know they can’t save themselves or make themselves presentable or lovable.  They know how silly it is to pretend they can.

Manning also wrote, “The men and women who are truly filled with light are those who have gazed deeply into the darkness of their imperfect existence.” …and… “The Good News of the Gospel of Grace cries out:  we are all—equally—privileged but unentitled beggars at the door of God's mercy!” 

It’s very difficult to see ourselves as unentitled beggars.  But consider what Paul said about himself:  "I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life." (1Timothy 1:16)

Oh that we could see ourselves as we really are—our wretchedness and our poverty—apart from Christ.  The Christian who is truly poor in spirit goes to worship singing, "I am poor, but I brought myself the best I could.  I am yours, Lord.  I am yours."

After His resurrection, Jesus told us … you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

If we were to do a word association and I said "missionary", your mind would likely turn to one or more of the following thoughts:  foreign country; leave family and friends; leave jobs and homes, churches and neighbors.  You might picture a long plane ride, learning a different language, new customs, and how to survive in a different culture.  You would probably imagine serving a poor people group who have not yet heard the Gospel. 

Shalom is the expectation we have because of who we are at Light of Life. We are in Christ. This means we're not only disciples of the person Jesus Christ, but we are under the care of the a personal God, who has all the authority and control over all that He created and He's close to us. Because of these facts, we believe we're in a good situation for us to minister to others. But we have responsibilities as disciples of Jesus Christ. Proverbs 3 tells us what we need to do and what should be our expectation: