NOTE: Oops!! Yesterday’s Bread and Butter title had a typo (of course it did!). It should have read: Sweat Versus Surrender. It was to be a play on words regarding doing things in our own strength (fruitless) versus doing things in the power of the Spirit (eternal). So sorry to have been confusing!!
HE PIERCES THE DARKNESS WITH LIGHT
BREAD
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles– 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Matthew 4:15-16 (NIV)
27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:27-32 (NIV)
46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. John 12:46 (NIV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:1-5 (NIV)
19 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:19-21 (NIV)
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 (NIV)
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7 (NIV)
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 (NIV)
14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. Psalm 18:28 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, You have brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see You in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Your glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Your stars shine; Let me find Your light in my darkness, Your life in my death, Your joy in my sorrow, Your grace in my sin, Your riches in my poverty, Your glory in my valley.” From: The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions
“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee. I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer fuller be. O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee. My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter fairer be. O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee. I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be. O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee. I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.” George Matheson
“A holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine.” D.L. Moody
“The true Christian cannot be hid, he cannot escape notice. A man truly living and functioning as a Christian will stand out. He will be like salt; he will be like a city set on a hill, a candle set upon a candlestick. But we can also add this further word. The true Christian does not even desire to hide his light. He sees how ridiculous it is to claim to be a Christian and yet deliberately to try to hide the fact. A man who truly realizes what it means to be a Christian, who realizes all that the grace of God has meant to him and done for him, and understands that, ultimately, God has done this in order that he may influence others, is a man who cannot conceal it. Not only that; he does not desire to conceal it, because he argues thus, ‘Ultimately the object and purpose of it all is that I might be functioning in this way’.” Martin Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount.
“Darkness is my point of view, my right to myself; light is God’s point of view.” Oswald Chambers
“Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light.” Book of Common Prayer
“Don’t slack off seeking, striving, and praying for the very same things that we exhort unconverted people to strive for, and a degree of which you have had in conversion. Thus pray that your eyes may be opened, that you may receive sight, that you may know your self and be brought to God’s feet, and that you may see the glory of God and Christ, may be raised from the dead, and have the love of Christ shed abroad in your heart. Those that have most of these things still need to pray for them; for there is so much blindness and hardness and pride and death remaining that they still need to have that work of God upon them, further to enlighten and enliven them. This will be a further bringing out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, and a kind of new conversion”. Jonathan Edwards
“It is light that enables us to see the differences between things; and it is Christ who gives us light.” Augustus Hare
“–Blazingly, Jesus illustrated this with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). No self-respecting Jew of that time would speak to a Samaritan. But Jesus, caring more for the person than the tradition, knew she had an unquenched thirst. He sought her out, found common ground — and the rest is history. It’s a model I’m seeing lived out all around me – people finding common ground, taking risks, running toward instead of away from threat. Being brave to love and heal and bless — no matter the cost to self. Daring to hold back, or to step in to forge a way for peace, stem a destructive tide, or build a river in a desert. I’m seeing that being salt and light means engaging our world precisely where we are placed. Wherever we find ourselves, there, living simply, profoundly, giving our best at all times for Jesus’ sake. Upfront or behind the scenes, whether like me you are a helper, or whether you are a leader; a doctor, an executive, a parent, a principal, a granny or a golfer, it matters not — only that we are givers and love at all times.” Paula Kirby
“If you’re turned the wrong way, you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Ann Voskamp
“The things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” Helen H. Lemmel
“Our Light shines forth in order to point others to Christ – the Source of our Light – and never to self – most often the source of our darkness.” BHY
“The most brilliant way to live is to always look for the light.” Ann Voskamp
HEART SAVOR
• This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine – let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
• Jesus came to pierce the darkness and bring us into His perfect and pleasing light.
• Light always dispels darkness.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 