A BRIGHTER LIGHT: SEVEN SIMPLE STEPS TO HELP YOUR CHRISTIAN LIGHT SHINE
By R. Herbert
Letting our “lights” shine is a basic Christian responsibility, and this short book examines seven simple ways in which we can avoid short-circuiting the light God desires to show through us, and more effectively let that light shine. These principles can help us better reflect God’s nature, better do his work, and better fulfill his desire in our lives. Download a free copy of this new e-book here.
We all live by chance to a certain extent. How a given day in our lives goes often depends on whether we got up in time to have breakfast, what the traffic was like, or because of any number of variables. As the book of Ecclesiastes confirms “Time and chance happen to all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). But the same biblical book tells us that it is equally true that we should make thoughtful plans and be diligently active toward making them happen (Ecclesiastes 11:2,4; etc.).
Why Plan?
Our brains are wired to make plans and to follow them. As far back as 1949, the Canadian neuropsychologist Donald Hebb coined the phrase “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” Hebb’s axiom is simply a neurological way of saying that when we direct ourselves to an action and consistently repeat it, our brains reinforce the behavior. In the same way, when we plan for growth and consistently implement our plans, the directed energy and repetition builds on itself, and we grow far more than if we just wait for growth to happen.
The truth is, we rarely grow through chance alone. As is often said, “Change doesn’t happen by chance but by choice.” Just as we can’t build a home without a blueprint, we can’t grow without a plan. Even the biological growth of plants and animals is planned –the plans for growth are built into every cell.
Spiritually, this is especially important. We know we are called to grow (Hebrews 6:1; 1 Peter 2:2–3; 2 Peter 3:18; etc.), but do we grow only occasionally – by chance – when we happen to hear a sermon or read an article that we can see applies to us, or do we actively look for such information?
Do we promise ourselves we will spend more time studying the Bible or doing something productive or valuable “when we have more time” – or do we plan to make the time?
Do we help others when they happen to cross our paths and we see they need help – or do we plan to help those who need help?
God Wants Us to Plan
The word “plan” appears hundreds of times in the Bible, and we need only read the Bible’s first chapter to see that God plans everything: that he already had a plan as he began the work of creation. Later, God provided detailed plans for the construction of the Tabernacle along with plans for all the many offerings, as we find documented in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. Acts 2:23 even tells us that Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” God is, indeed, the planner par-excellence – as Isaiah wrote “the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent” (Isaiah 28:29).
So it is clear that if we want to grow, and we want to grow to be more like God, we need to learn to plan our growth. We cannot refuse to plan and use the excuse that we are “letting the Holy Spirit guide our lives” because the Bible (inspired by the Holy Spirit) frequently urges us to plan. Jesus himself said “suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace” (Luke 14:31–32 emphasis added). What Jesus describes here, is simply the importance of planning.
Naturally, our spiritual planning should be done in a prayerful spirit, asking God’s guidance. Proverbs tells us “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3) and “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps” (Proverbs 16:9). If we desire to grow spiritually, God is more than willing to help us achieve that goal, but we must show God we want to change and we must plan for change. That is why the psalmist could confidently pray “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed” (Psalm 20:4).
Some five hundred years ago, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his list of 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. It was these “theses” or principles, of course, that triggered the Protestant Reformation, and in so doing changed the history of the modern world.
Most of Luther’s theses had to do with his rejection of the practice of selling “indulgencies” in the Catholic Church of his time – a means of raising money for the church which claimed that people might pay to have the souls of loved ones or others released from “purgatory.” Although this may seem like ancient history to most of us in the modern world, and most of us may not know what a single one of Luther’s 95 theses was, there are some timeless lessons to be found there.
In his very first thesis – which formed the basis of those that followed – Luther (citing Matthew 4:17) wrote: “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said, ‘Repent’, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” This statement was a remarkable one for its time. The Vulgate – the Latin version of the Bible used by the Catholic Church – translated the command to repent in Matthew 4:17 with the words paenitentiam agite, meaning “Go, and do penance.” But Luther found that in the Greek text of the New Testament the word for repentance used by the New Testament writers was metanoia, which has nothing to do with penance and means to change one’s heart and mind – to be changed or converted.
This deeper and more accurate understanding of the concept of repentance had a direct impact on Luther’s first thesis, for we obviously cannot constantly be doing penance throughout our whole lives; but as Luther stated, our lives as believers should be ones of ongoing repentance in the sense of continual change and ongoing conversion.
The truth that Luther had learned was that all of the Christian life is repentance. Certainly, the Bible speaks of a primary repentance when we first turn to God from our own sinfulness (Acts 2:38, 11:18), and we might call that “Repentance with a capital R.” But the Scriptures also show that our initial Repentance is followed by an ongoing repentance (with a small “r”) that is the continual mindset of the Christian. This does not mean constantly dwelling on our mistakes and failures, but continually and immediately repenting when we do find we have come short of God’s way.
We see this ongoing or additional repentance throughout the Bible. We see it frequently, for example, in the psalms of David where he expresses repentance on many occasions. We see it in the New Testament in scriptures such as Revelation 2:5 which commands members of the church to repent of errors into which they have fallen, and in 1 John 1:8-9 which tells us that: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
This is the ongoing reality that the apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him” (Colossians 2:16). Just as we begin our Christian lives with repentance and faith (Acts 2:38), so Paul says, we must continue – in repentance and faith.
We know that it is the Spirit of God that leads us to initial repentance (Romans 2:4), and as his Spirit continues to live in us (1 Corinthians 3:16) we are continually guided to repentance from ongoing mistakes and sins. The Scriptures are clear that this ongoing repentance is not done to try to earn salvation, but as a natural result of salvation occurring in our lives and our desire to become more and more like God. In other words, we are forgiven our sins through the occurrence of Repentance at the beginning of our Christian lives – but we continue to ask God to forgive us and spare us from the consequences of our sins after that point. Every small “repentance” reaffirms our original “Repentance.”
In reclaiming the concept of ongoing repentance Luther discovered something that every Christian must discover and act on also: that true repentance is not just an inaugural event in our Christian lives, it is also the very basis of our life in Christ from that time forward.
The concept of ongoing lifelong repentance is not a message that is commonly heard in many churches, but it is a message that we need to nail firmly to the doors of our hearts and minds.
The title of this blog post is not talking about the beginning of physical life at conception or birth or the beginning of our spiritual lives at conversion. It is talking about the first two minutes of our lives as we experience them each and every day: the first two minutes after we wake in the morning.
Because we are often still sleepy and perhaps “coming to,” we tend to not even notice these first minutes after waking. For many of us the day does not start to come into focus until we are up and dressed, or perhaps have had our morning coffee. But just because we do not notice or think about the first minutes of wakefulness each day does not mean they are not important. In fact, it can easily be argued that those two first minutes of our day are the most important, spiritually, of our whole day – of our whole lives.
Let me explain. It is often said that the beginning of a journey is not as important as its ending, but it is often the beginning of the journey – the planning, preparation, and mindset – that determines if we will ever reach the end of our journey and how successful it will be. The same may be said of a military operation or any important undertaking. Each day of life is no different. Stumbling into each day we are given is akin to starting on a long journey or going on an important mission with no preparation at all. Without proper preparation we will likely miss many of the opportunities – and be oblivious to many of the dangers – we may meet as we set out on each journey or into each day.
Lack of preparation also lessens our chances for success, as C.S. Lewis so aptly stressed in Mere Christianity, by opening us up to a world of distraction:
“… the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger life come flowing in. And so on, all day.”
In these words, Lewis hit on one of the most important aspects of our spiritual growth – or lack of it: we must intentionally prepare our minds both to avoid distraction and to align ourselves with the way of God.
Speaking words of praise and thanks in the first minutes of each day is as much listening as it is speaking – we attune ourselves to hear what God wants us to hear as the day begins. The prophet Isaiah describes this very principle: “He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed” (Isaiah 50:4) – and the result of this “hearing” is clear: “The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away” (Isaiah 50:5).
So how do we accomplish this? To properly prepare for each day and to maximize its opportunities, we must put our minds in spiritual gear from the moment we wake. Some may feel this would be almost impossible for them – that they are not “morning people” or that they don’t wake up properly until they get in the shower, get to their coffee, or whatever. But the truth is no matter how slow we may be to get started each day, we can still focus our minds in the first minute or two after waking just as we can focus our eyes in that same time.
This means that if we make our first conscious thoughts each day to be ones of thanksgiving for the gift of life, of praise for the One who has given it, and of dedication to the way of serving, giving, and helping – these thoughts not only set the tone for the whole day, they serve to reset the mind’s spiritual compass and increase the likelihood that as we go into the day it will not be to spiritually stumble and wander.
But it is imperative that this “orienting” of our minds and of our spiritual selves is done immediately when we wake. We can do this before we open our eyes if we wish, or we can simply focus our minds as our eyes come into focus. But if we start the practice and stick with it, we will find it not only becomes easier, but it also becomes ingrained and soon becomes second nature: we wake up and focus spiritually without having to think about it.
This may sound like a very small way to approach spiritual growth, but it is not. One or two minutes of spiritual preparation for the day invariably means that our days go better from that perspective. Our normal morning prayers will be more focused and effective, our first – and ongoing – interactions with others in the day will better reflect the attitude God wants us to display, and we will be better primed to use the day to learn and grow, to serve and help, to the full.
Spiritual growth does not happen by itself; preparing for growth is a big part of making growth possible on a daily basis. Walking with God means focusing and making necessary course corrections throughout the day, but our success in this and in growing in grace can be tremendously enhanced each morning in the first two minutes of daily life.
Are you afraid of change? I’ll admit it right up front: I often am. In fact, at some level we all are. Psychological studies have found that people are often afraid of change in their lives because of experiences they have had where changes led to less desirable situations. Those experiences can often give us an almost hard-wired resistance to changing the status quo. If you don’t believe that, think about the last time you switched checkout lanes in a grocery store because your lane was moving so slowly – only to find the lane you changed into then slowed down even more – and the resultant feeling of frustration with the change you made.
More rigorous psychological tests have proven the deep-seated nature of our frequent frustration with change. For example, a University of Illinois study examined the multiple-choice tests of students and interviewed those who had changed their minds on questions, and thus changed their answers during a test. The significant finding was that when they were questioned afterwards, the students who had changed answers indicated that switching a correct answer to an incorrect answer was much more frustrating and memorable than failing to switch to a correct answer from an incorrect one!
And so it is, from tests in school to lines in stores and in countless other ways we experience small but memorable frustrations with change and may often resist it as a result. These are hardly catastrophic experiences, but the human brain remembers little things like that so when we are tempted to change something in our lives, the suspicion that it may make things worse kicks in almost immediately.
But we need to remember “the other side of the coin” of change: that change is necessary in order to enjoy all of the most satisfying aspects of life. We change in order to move from childhood to adult life, from school to career, from single status to marriage, and in many other ways as we grow and mature. As Paul told the Corinthians “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11, ESV). Like Paul, most of us are happy to give up childish pleasures and satisfactions for mature ones.
Spiritually, we might expect the principle of giving up old wrong ways for better ones to be appealing, too, but human nature and the fear of change we so often develop can slow us down in this area. In addition, limited understanding of the guidance the Bible gives us for change can affect us, too. We may know that the New Testament counsels us all to “repent” or to change our ways (Acts 2:38, etc.), but that command is not a one-time thing – it is an ongoing way of life.
The apostle Paul had something to say about the fact that we need to continually focus on distinct areas in which we should change: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers … Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).
Think about these words for a minute. The idea of being transformed by renewal is an ongoing one in what Paul wrote. Being “transformed” simply means to be “changed,” of course, and the ongoing “testing” Paul then talks about in these verses refers to accepting the need to change and testing or trying new, better ways in various aspects of our lives. That is not a natural process and it is not always a comfortable one – if it were, Paul would not have had to “appeal” to us to do it. But the good news is that this kind of change is always positive and for the best when it is accomplished – and that is what Paul meant in saying it is “good and acceptable and perfect.” So how do we put the need to change into practice? Primarily, we do so in the way we study the word of God. We do so by reminding ourselves every time we read a section of Scripture not just to read for inspiration, but also to focus on commands or challenges to do or be something different from the way we are. It means asking ourselves: “Is this me?” “Should this be me?” and “How do I need to change to make it me?” Because, spiritually, the only change we really ever need to fear is the change not made.
Eagles are magnificent birds. It is easy to see why they are called the “King of the Birds” and, as a result, why various myths have grown up around them. One of the most commonly heard myths is that after a number of years of life, eagles fly to remote mountain areas where they pluck out all their feathers (and in some versions of the story, even their talons before breaking off their beak) in order to grow new ones over a few months before rising as renewed creatures.
It may be an inspiring image, but it really has nothing to do with reality. If eagles lost all their feathers at one time – or even just their large wing pinions – they would be unable to fly, and as raptors they would not survive while the supposed process of transformation took place. Ornithologists know that eagles do not lose all their feathers at once and become transformed in such a short space of time. In fact, the story really tells us nothing about eagles, but it does tell us a lot about human psychology.
The process of transformation is not easy. It’s a painful and tiring one that most humans dislike and would gladly avoid if it were possible. Hence there is appeal in the stories of eagles that are completely renewed in a few months, mythical Phoenix birds that rise, transformed, overnight from their ashes, and so on. They are great stories, but they mainly show how much humans would like transformation to be quick and easy. We want to fast-track the process, skip to the end of the story, and avoid the pain of the slowness of actual change.
So how are eagles transformed? The answer is simple: one feather at a time. Feathers do become worn over time, but eagles and other raptors generally do not pluck them out. Like all other birds, they go through a slow, ongoing process called a molt in which each feather is replaced, one or two at a time. And that is really how we change, too. And change we must. Christian change or “transformation” is not seeking salvation in works, but seeking to please and honor God in our lives.
The apostle Paul wrote: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), and: “… we all … are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord …” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Being changed to reflect the nature and character of Christ is one of the great goals that every Christian aims for, but we must be realistic about it. It is a process of transformation that takes time. Notice that in 2 Corinthians 3:18, above, the ongoing, “ever-increasing” nature of the change is made clear.
It’s easy to become discouraged when we don’t see change occurring quickly in our spiritual lives. But it is the nature of all real change that we don’t always see it happening before our eyes. The part of our nature we seek to replace is worn away slowly like a stone in a stream – but it is gradually worn away. The part of our nature that is growing to what we want to be is growing like the seed in the earth – we don’t see the growth, but it is happening nonetheless (Mark 4:26-29). We may know this intellectually, but it is a great key to encouragement to realize at the end of each day, no matter how discouragingly slow our growth may seem, as long as we are continuing to fight against what we have rejected and to work for what we believe – the stone is being worn away, the seed is growing.
We know that according to the plan of God, eventually “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and Philippians 3:21). That is something to which every Christian looks forward. But for now, until we get to that point, transformation comes slowly, with patience: one feather – one small change – at a time.
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