Corona Devo 3034

I ran into a man the other day that our family has known for years...but he ran away from me.

I'm friends with his wife and my husband is friends with him, and our kids are all friends too..for years. We've shared meals together, and our family has shared with them about the Lord a number of times.  He knows where we stand on faith in the Lord. 

However, I started noticing a couple years ago that he and his wife were rarely in the same place at once.  He would be one place with a child, while she was elsewhere with another child.  

Our family sometimes has hectic schedules too, but (time after time), this began to feel different to me somehow...almost purposed separations, and I began praying for them.  

I can't recall the last time that I have seen them attend something together as a couple.  

I've kept them in prayer, and a year or so ago the Lord put them on my heart so strongly that I wrote the wife (my friend) a note to encourage her in her marriage and her faith.  God sees us when we struggle, and I didn't (and don't) know for sure that they were struggling, but I did know that God whispered to my spirit to encourage her and remind her that He loves them.

Fast forward to the other day when I ran into her husband as I ran errands.  We hugged hello and exchanged greetings, but I couldn't help feeling as if he was looking straight through me.  There was no ill-intention on his part, but his sentences and interactions with me were shallow and superficial.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  ~Matthew 6:22-23

And then he looked at the little cross necklace that hung around my neck.  

I watched his eyes take in my cross, and then I watched as he abruptly finished our conversation, and took off. 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  ~John 1:5 

I honestly don't know all that transpired during our brief interaction, but I have a (faith) sense that there was a battle that took place.  
It just felt like darkness was running from the light.  

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  ~John 8:12

I (certainly!) am not the light, but anyone who knows me knows that I love the light (Jesus Christ), and my cross necklace is a reminder to me and the world of the lengths that Jesus went to in order to shine His light into our darkness.  

But not everyone wants to be reminded of that.

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. (20) Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 

(21) But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.  ~John 3:19-21  

Do we have friends or family or coworkers or acquaintances who may be walking away from the Lord and His light?
Are we dabbling with dissenting from our Lord for any reason?

Are there signs?  Do we have a sense?  
What can we do?  
What should we do?

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

(3) For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 

(4) They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 

(5) But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.  ~2 Timothy 4:2-5

God doesn't mince words, does He?  He is direct and blunt about His word and the importance (cruciality) of our matrimony to it.  

Let's stay in God's Word today, Brothers and Sisters!  And may we do everything we can to stay in-step with what God says about life, love, and our pursuit of Him in both today.  Amen.

Just for today--how can we live for the light (Jesus) today?  How can we live by the truth and come into the light today?

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.  ~John 3:21 

I can't be sure what the full-story of our family friend (and his wife and family) is, but I sense that they have allowed darkness to blot out the light.

We each dance with that danger from day to day too. The struggle and temptation and danger is always near.  

But so is our Lord, and we must never forget or underestimate His power over darkness and over us.

You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.  ~Psalm 18:28

Hang on to God's Word and Truth and promises today.  Life can get difficult and messy and complicated, but Christ keeps us centered.  He turns our darkness into light.  

Let Him.

Let's not run away from Him.  Let's not take off when we see Him, and let's remember His sacrifice on the cross for us.  

Let's not get jaded or bitter and look straight through Jesus.  If our faith has moved into mere shallow and superficial interactions, then reclaim it, because: What do we have to lose?  Everything.

You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.  ~Psalm 18:28


Blessings,

sarah

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