devotion column Erasmus Makarimayi
BELIEVERS are the light of the world. Scripture shows that born again believers exude likeable ambience and an admirable aura.
They’re called Christians because they’re His expression, outward or naturally visible part of the glory of God in Christ.
In Christ, we walk in goodness, righteousness and truth. We’re called to sincerity and genuineness.
This is, however, not by works, but by grace. Please, remember we’re saved by grace and live by grace.
As receivers of God’s grace, we’re partakers or participants of that Grace.
Our natural disposition or default settings, as it were, are that we opt not to be fake and hypocritical. We allow the fruit of the Spirit (Light) to flourish in us.
Light has effect and it travels.
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It’s fruitful. Ephesians 5:9, records: “(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)” Goodness is love embodied.
The love of God the Father is revealed in and through us.
The Amplified Bible puts it thus, “For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.” Oftentimes, outsiders wonder when they complain about the conduct of certain Christians.
In churches or should I say among church goers, some are not born again believers and cannot, therefore, produce the fruit of salvation and regeneration. Beyond that, born again believers are work-in-progress.
We’re patient as God’s power works in us to desirable effect.
This is the reason we talk of Christian growth. We’re the seed or offspring of God who look ahead, not bringing our past faults and sin to bear with.
James 1:17: Amplified, writes: “Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].” We’re not turning back and it is unfair to be judged on the basis of our past, but we have to be viewed from Christ’s accomplished or finished work. We’re standing firm in Christ and are being built. Colossians 2:7 spells out: “Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Things are shaping up.
Our history changed and the trajectory of our lives is on a new plane. Our past is gone. Ephesians 5:8 establishes: “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” We have inbuilt power to walk as children of light. Apostle Paul is quite blunt and says we were sometimes darkness. There was nothing to appreciate from us. He further says in Ephesians 5:11, Amplified: “Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to] expose and reprove and convict them.”
Multitudes are accepting the Gospel of Christ or the Grace of God and thus joining the Christian Faith because of our exemplary and enviable deportment. Our reputation opens their hearts to the life of Christ in us. Our etiquette and poise don’t smack at the face of Jesus’ sacrificial death and our eternal forgiveness.
Our aroma, savour or fragrance is sweet. 2 Corinthians 2:15, New English Translation, says: “For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” As a believer, you carry the fragrance or aroma of heaven or parabolically and figuratively if the world wants to sense the scent of Jesus, they come to you. Any situation or circumstance that gets into contact with you changes to your fragrance.
Your aroma influences your family, marriage, work, business and nation, among others. It’s evident that many clamour to us for hope, comfort, courage and refuge. Jesus says in John 7:38: “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly (heart) shall flow rivers of living water.”
That’s the heart of the believer. The following describes you. You dispense or emit light as much as you impart life, productivity, fruitfulness and prosperity.
A born again believer leads an exemplary life and she/he is a solution and an answer. To the unsaved watching from the terraces, please, don’t be judgmental.
There’s work going inside the heart of the believer. To the believer, please, allow the Spirit of God to do His work of the fullness of regeneration. God isn’t a dictator; submit and surrender to Him. Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.
