Radiant

As women, we are often looking for the perfect beauty product. We want our skin to glow. We want to be radiant! After Moses encountered God, it says his face was radiant because he had spoken to the Lord. He was changed from the inside and it showed on the outside! Have you ever known a Christian who was radiant? I have and do. When you look upon them there is a beauty that can't be attained by the right makeup or skin care product. You see it in their eyes and smile. I want to have that kind of radiance, to be so affected by my encounters with God that others see it and want to glorify God.

Moving into the New Testament yesterday, I think we see part of the key to this kind of radiance in Christ's command that we love God with all our heart, soul and mind and that we love our neighbors as ourselves. Those are commands we have heard over and over. Sometimes when I am so familiar with a command it loses its importance in my mind. Some time ago I heard a sermon about this particular command and it changed the way I thought about a lot of things. The pastor reminded me that in this particular text Jesus tells us that ALL THE LAW and the prophets hang on these two commands. Jesus repeats this truth in Corinthians when he says that without love, everything is useless. (my paraphrase) This pastor explained that as we follow God's commands and make decisions every day, our question to ourselves should be- does this action show love to God and is it loving toward others. He explained that every law in the Bible hinges upon this! I think that is why Jesus appears to be so hard on the Pharisees. They are following the letter of the law, but they are ignoring the crux of the law! These are the highest commands. It made me think about the way we treat certain sinners in our society. The most most shocking part of this sermon was when the pastor said, "God hates it when we use His book to violate His law." Ouch. 

Love your neighbor- what if she gossips about me? Love your neighbor. What if he is gay? Love your neighbor. What if she thinks Christianity is stupid? Love your neighbor. What if he doesn't love me back? Love your neighbor!

It is hard sometimes! Especially because love is not just a few sweet words. Love is a verb and not always reciprocated. 

By the way, if you are interested in a great sermon series, download the app Your Move with Andy Stanley. There are several series on the app. The series Christian is a really good one.