GENEROSITY

Matthew 5:16; John 20:1-2; 1 Peter 3:3-6

Introduction

Light is life. Living things keep living from the food we eat. This message combines with women's Sunday as well as International Mother's Day. Let me seize the opportunity to wish all women a blessed mother's day, especially my mother, Abena Manu, and Mama Lydia my lovely wife (me yere Ama).

We cannot talk about mothers without acknowledging the food they've been preparing for us. Plants prepare their own food through a process called photosynthesis ('photo' - light). Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize nutrients from carbon dioxide and water to produce food and oxygen - key agents of life. Without the presence of light food and oxygen which support life cannot be made.

In John 1:4, we are told that "Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men." Light and life are synodal. This implies that, when our mothers and our wives offer us food, they are actually radiating the Light of Christ onto us.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Christian must not be hidden under the shadows of this dark world. How can we radiate this Holy Light in us to this dark world?

God's light is the way we receive and show hope over despair, peace over chaos, and joy over sorrow which cannot be explained. It is God's peace and the gratitude we feel for Christ's sacrifice and the salvation He offers. These and more radiates from the very of the Christian into those in the darkness as the Bible puts it "they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven." This indistinguishable light of God illuminates even the darkest part of our lives to give hope to the hopeless, the desolate, and the downtrodden.

Let Your Light Shine 

Like a hill city, Christ's light rises above and radiates up above the world's darkness. The Christian becomes the beacon of Christ's light when we show "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control." Galatians 5:22-23 Christ Jesus is radiated to others to lead them to Him.

Women, socially are deemed to be the gateway into the family, society, and even the church. So the gates of our lives must shine to radiate Christ Jesus.

Ways we can Shine to Radiate Christ.

1. Modest Dressing 

"Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold ornaments or fine clothes." 1 Peter 3:3 (HCSB)

The focus of appearing decently is turned to enticement. It is becoming difficult to differentiate women of the light from those of the darkness in appearance. Instead of being the light of the world so that the darkness takes from us, the light, we have rather turned out to copy from them. We see mini skirts, long coloured fingernails, weavon of all sorts, lips in all colours, etc. even in church.

Your appearance "...should consist of what is inside the heart" 1 Peter 3:4 (HCSB). The Christian woman should NEVER be heard idly saying, 'Christianity is in the heart not what I wear.' Radiate the Christ in your heart with what you wear.

2. Hearty Thoughts

"...what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes." 1 Peter 3:4 (HCSB)

Examine your heart for any hidden secrets of shame. God delights in our gentle and quiet spirit. God Almighty aligned Himself to a lactating mother "“Can a woman forget her nursing child or lack compassion for the child of her womb?..." Isaiah 49:15 (HCSB) The hearty thought we express radiates Christ to the world.

3. Submissiveness

"For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also beautified themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord." 1 Peter 3:5-6 (HCSB)

Out of our submissiveness to authority and husbands, we radiate the Light of Christ to the world. Please, let me sound it clear that Humility must not be taken as stupidity. Let us be humble and God's light will be like a city on a hill in our society always.

Conclusion

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14 (HCSB)

Jesus calls Himself the light of the world (John 8:12), then tells us that we are the light of the world too! That is an amazing compliment, but also a scary huge responsibility.

Notice that He didn’t say we will become the light of the world if we do this-or-that? We are the light of the world because we are His followers. It is His light that is radiating from us with the purpose of glorifying God.

Shalom aleichem ...