The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
2 Corinthians 2:14-16a says, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the [distinctive quality] of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish; to the one we are the savor of death unto death and to the other the savor of life unto life.”
As we learn and grow in faith and holiness in Christ, His mark on our lives becomes more and more distinct in a dark world. We become perceptively different from those who do not know the Lord because the glory of God shines in us. It is not a visible light, but it is recognizable as significantly inconsistent from the way of the world. For instance, we are called to love our enemies and to “turn the other cheek” when accosted (Matt. 5:39). Who in the world would do that, without the prompting and protection of the Holy Spirit?
Jesus, Himself, commanded us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves when He gave us the two most important commandments that encompass all the others: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt 22:37-40). Quite often this becomes the means of sharing the Gospel to those who don’t know Jesus.
When we go about the world in the strength of the Holy Spirit, we act differently from the world and people are watching. You may have noticed that the light of Jesus in our lives often provokes hostile reactions simply because, like oil and water, the glory of God and the sin of the world do not blend. Hostility is the outpouring of fear in the face of the unfamiliar, i.e. the holiness of God’s presence.
Jesus told us what to do with that light in Matthew 5:14-16: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Our call to be witnesses of the Gospel is the call to expose others to the light of glory that God has placed in each of us. On earth God’s glory is not tangibly perceivable in born-again believers; but when we get to Heaven we will be able to see it with the eyes of our glorified bodies.
