First Thoughts

For those who know Christ, every day is a new beginning full of hope and light. The slate is wiped clean. The old has been washed away and they are a new and transformed creature.
No past condemns us nor holds us in shame. Christ sacrificed all that we would live in the hope, joy and love of His eternal freedom. Life is a brief journey upon which we walk. The light surrounds us, guiding our steps that we will not fall.
But what hope have those who know not the light and love of our beloved Lord? Groping in darkness and struggling in chaos they seek from the world that which it can never give them. They long for freedom and yet in their ignorance and shame embrace chains. Wondering, whether aimless or purposeful is still wondering. Hope does not avail her face to these poor lost souls.
We see them. We recognize the pain and longing in their hopeless expression, for these burdens were once our own. We cringe at the burdensome chains they so desperately cling to and dream to take these from them so they may taste astounding depths of freedom and for the first time truly live. But these burdens are not ours to take. We are called to lives of obedience, to walk with God as Enoch did- to know and love Him. Wherever God has placed us, whatever strength He has given us, whatever passion so brightly consumes us, this is our personal mission from Him. Yet, no greater element exists than to know and walk with our Lord in obedience, love and truth.
We are silver in the hands of the Master Craftsman. Unpurified, dross contaminates us destroying all value. But, lovingly the Master Craftsman holds us into the most severe part of the fire to purge us of all dross. If He holds us a second to long, we will perish in the flame. But if He relieves us of the furious fire too quickly we will never have value because of the impurities which plague us. Our value, our worth, all that we are is found in Him alone. When He done purifying, bending, breaking, molding and shaping us, He will hold us up to the light and behold His own perfect and beautiful reflection, crisp and clear, from the finished craft.
We are called to be as He is, hope to the hopeless and light in the midst of the deepest darkness. Behold the radiant beauty of the stars which we are called to shine even more brightly than! Although distant and surrounded by complete and utter darkness, their light pierces the darkness and has guided man since the beginning.
Darkness flees from light; it cannot stand. No power of darkness can hold sway to the Light. If our lives would reveal His light and loving reflection in this dark and chaotic world, the darkness would tremble and fall before us. May our light shine so brightly as to guide those groping in darkness, encumbered by chains, so that our light will pierce their blindness and they may know our Lord and choose to leave behind the chains they so desperately cling to.
The ultimate goal of life is to know God and to glorify Him. Follow Him and His light will shine through you in such a way that not even the world will be able to deny His brilliant light. He is the only Hope of the world, the Light of Life.