Shape of God – The Prism
As Christians, we know that God is a Spirit and that He is love. However, do you stop and consider that God is light? James 1:7 says “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” What a great way to describe our Heavenly Father.
How then, do we open our spiritual eyes and see the light of God?
For starters just look around you and take in the majesty and wonder of all the things that God created. We have to acknowledge the Creator when we see His creation.
We can also learn to become students of God, where we read about God, talk about God and meditate about God. This, by the way, is called theology and is an important part of the Christian faith. It doesn’t take a Bible degree to be a theologian of God’s Word. Just remember that the Word of God is our roadmap, love letter and instruction manual and is meant to guide us through life on earth.
We can allow our eyes to be opened to all that God has done on earth and even through us. Not only can we begin to take in this light, but we can also learn how to reflect His light.
What an amazing opportunity we have as followers of Christ to be a reflection of Him. Just imagine what the world could see if we were constantly allowing our walk with the Lord to be a reflection of His light in the darkness.
As we think about reflecting light, let’s look at the shape of a prism, or even better, a diamond. This beautiful crystal structure that has got latticework of molecules that are very strong together..
Holding a diamond in the light you can see a rainbow of color that comes off the diamond. This is one of the ways a diamond is classified, by the amount of fire that can be seen in it. What an awesome illustration of how God uses His people on earth. He shines His light through us and into the world in many ways.
One of the ways that this happens is through the gifts of the Spirit that have been given to the church. Now the fruit of the Spirit is primarily the effect of the Spirit. It’s how it makes us feel and what we experience internally.
The gifts of the Spirit, however, are the works of God and what He can do through us.
So remember that God is light and He shines down on us His people and then we shine and sparkle to the world as we are the reflection of our Heavenly Father.
You can find the list of Spiritual gifts in Romans 12:6-8 and they are: prophecy, acts of service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy. Also in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, we read about words of wisdom, words of knowledge, special faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
It is important to note that there is not one of these gifts that is more special than the other, therefore all gifts are needed to reflect the light of our Father. Some gifts might appear more valuable because they are done in what might appear a more grandiose way.
That being said, the young man that shows up to church early to set out chairs is just as important to the work of God as a pastor. Just as the grandmother who picks up the phone and calls someone in her church to encourage them during a hard time is every bit as valuable in the eyes of the Lord as the prophet who addresses a congregation.
Don’t let fear keep you from operating in the gifts God has given you. It may seem scary to step out, but your Heavenly Father wants you to walk in faith. Also, guard your heart from pride when He starts using you. It is afterall Jesus working through you to do these things.
Lastly, there are also five roles within the church that make it possible for the church to show the many facets of Jesus. These are the apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers and prophets. It is amazing when you think about the fact that it literally takes this many people to show all the wonderful attributes of our Savior to the world.
We should all take a moment to pray that we are willing vessels for God to pour His light into us so that it can reflect from us to this lost and hurting world we live in. Try to keep this in mind when you are out amongst those that don’t yet know Him. Shine brightly, friend!