Last week I was on a mission trip in Alabama with my son Connor and about 55 other people from Scottsdale Christian Academy. We spent most of our time in the city of Eutaw, a community that has a lot of single parent homes and has been hit hard by drugs and other corruption. We cleaned up the town square, picked up trash on the sides of some country roads, revamped a baseball field, played with kids at the community center, and some of us helped run a baseball practice at the local high school.
All the students on the trip were freshman in high school and they did an awesome job. The town square and baseball field looked amazing when we finished, and I hope that brings more pride into the community to help keep them looking that way. Watching our students play with these underprivileged kids at the center was heartwarming. I saw a lot of great future moms and dads in our group. We brought a lot of joy to a bunch of kids who are in an extremely difficult situation.
This trip reminded me of a story I heard from a pastor that talked about how light shines brighter in the dark. Think about it. You can turn on a flashlight in a dark room and it immediately makes an impact. The light pierces the darkness and makes a way for you to navigate through the room. As a Christian it can be easy to spend time with others like you and stay in your comfort zone. However, when you are selfless and meet people in their dark place the impact can be much greater. Here are three ways for you to be a light in someone’s life.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”
John 1:5, NLT
Use Your Time
As I grow older, I feel like time is more valuable than money. I have been alive for 50 years and I want to make a greater impact in the next 50. The more I sacrifice time out of my busy schedule to help others, I see how God rewards me with more efficiency of the time I have left. Consider volunteering at a homeless shelter on a Friday night. Cash in some vacation days and go on a mission trip with your church. When you hoard all your time to yourself you might find out that all the busyness you create is burdensome.
Use Your Treasure
Making a lot of money is not a bad thing. It’s when you hoard it all to yourself and your selfish pleasures when you get into trouble. My family lives on an 80/20 principle with our income. We give 10% to our church, we put 10% into savings, and we live on the other 80%. When we feel like God has put it on our heart to give out of our 90% to bless someone or an organization, we do it. It comes after a lot of thought and prayer, but the amazing thing is that the more you give, the more you receive. Starting to give and trusting God with your finances is the difficult first step.
Use Your Talents
Remember that God blessed you with your talents so use them for good by serving others. Sometimes it just takes some observation on your end to see where you can help. See a need- fill a need. Look out for opportunities to serve others and if it’s not obvious, pray that God will show you where He needs you. When the phone rings or an email comes with an opportunity, don’t be surprised that God provided an answer. Once you find out what you can do, take action and try and include others. Many hands make light work!
“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”
1 Peter 4:10, NLT
Here are some points to remember:
- Be a good steward of what God has given you.
- God gave me my talents so use them to help others.
- Have a selfless attitude and not selfish.
- Give sacrificially and watch how God blesses you with more.
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