Pastor Joey, encouraging us on a Sunday morning to become the men and women God wants to use to touch the lives of others, encouraged us first to think back to that person we knew, or had known, who was so full of Jesus that their attitudes and actions impacted others with the reality of our loving, compassionate, and caring God. In thinking back, our response to that person was that we wanted to be just like him or her. I sat in the congregation, trying to remember. Who did I remember as that kind of person??? I’ve been in church most of my life, attended a Christian high school and a Christian college, and I had an extended family with numerous relatives who also went to church and professed many of the teachings of their church. But, “full of Jesus” to the extent that they impacted others by being a living, breathing, accurate reflection of the God who loves us all, cares and provides for us, accepts us in our flaws and weaknesses, and comes alongside us to encourage and enable??? With both of my parents coming from larger families, a few stood out, although as a child, teenager, and young adult, my own understanding of their motivation was scant.
So, when Pastor Joey asked us to remember, my memories skipped my earlier years and focused instead, on two women who, decades later, founded Umbrella Ministries. And as the Ministries website tells us, Daisy and Donna “founded Umbrella Ministries with the sole purpose of helping mothers through their grief of losing a child. Since its beginning, Umbrella Ministries has offered comfort, hope and encouragement to thousands of mothers across the United States, including Alaska and Canada. Grieving the death of a child can be a painful and lonely struggle. Working through such anguish requires tremendous effort, patience, faith and hope. Umbrella Ministries assists bereaved mothers through this difficult period with support, encouragement and love.” Daisy and Donna are both women who are “full of Jesus.” There is no pretense in either of them, and through their own caring and giving, they both accurately reflect the God they serve, the One who loved them first, and motivated and filled them to touch the lives of others. They relate to others with warmth, understanding, acceptance, and encouragement, each utilizing the uniqueness God has gifted them with. And their passion to serve their God and to serve other moms, is contagious. I want to be just like them!!
I remembered too, contemplating Pastor Joey’s question a few days later, a woman I never met, but a visiting missionary at our own church told us her story. She was a burn victim many years before the missionary met her, and the fires had horribly scarred and disfigured her face. But, as the missionary told us, she was beautiful!! How could that be??? Because she gave to others as Daisy and Donna gave, and the beauty of God was seen as it radiated even from her scars. Precious sister in Christ, I would far rather radiate her beauty as it radiates the beauty of her God, and the beauty of Daisy and Donna, than any beauty on a red carpet or a magazine cover.
You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.
– Bev
(Related Bible reading: Matthew 5:13-16; 1 Corinthians 10:31-33)
