My office
has south facing windows that allow light to shine in on a big bookshelf that
is behind my desk. Some of my books have
been sitting on that shelf since June 4, 1990, the day that I moved to
Estevan.
Last week I
grabbed an old college textbook off that shelf and noticed that while the front
cover of the book was still the same bright and brilliant red that it was when
it was first published, the spine was almost white. In fact, the colour had faded so much that
the title was barely visible. Now this
change did not come quickly. Had I taken that book off the shelf after a week,
you would not have been able to see any difference at all. After a year or two, you may have started to
notice some fading. However, after
twenty-five years of the sun shining on it almost every day, the change is obvious. Exposure over a long period of time has an
effect.
I believe
that is one of the reasons that Timothy was told to stay with the church in
Ephesus and why Titus was told to stay on the island of Crete. Certainly, they were there to teach the word,
but their actual presence was going to have as much effect as anything
else. Timothy is told to, “Watch your
life and doctrine closely” (1 Timothy 4:16) for this very reason. If people are exposed to both his teaching and
his way of life, then he has a chance to influence them. In fact that passage ends with this promise,
“Persevere in them, (Keep exposing them to a different way of thinking and
living) because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers”.
As
Christian people, we make a huge mistake when we cut ourselves off from our
communities. As Jesus told one man, “Go
home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he
has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). People
will want to know about your faith only when they see the positive difference
that it has made in your life.
It is not
the quickest way to bring about change, but it is effective.
“Let your
light shine!” (Matthew 5:16).
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