“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise our Father in heaven”.  Matthew 5:16

We are called to be Jesus’ disciples here on earth, to follow His example of living, to be a light to the world.  When we commit our lives to Jesus, we become members of the family of God.

We become His earthly representatives. Or as Mother Theresa puts it, we become God’s love letters to a hurting world.

In practical terms it means that you have to choose your attitude every morning.

Choose whether you are going to let things upset you or whether you are going to let them go.  Choose whether you are going to be joyful and thankful or miserable and ungrateful.  Choose whether you are going to forgive others and yourself or whether you are going to hold onto un-forgiveness and hurt.

We live in the world, so we don’t have much power over things that happen around us and to us, but we do have the ultimate power of choosing how we will respond in any given situation.

In other words, it’s not what happens to you that matters it is the manner in which you react that will determine a positive or negative outcome.

There is always a split second before we react when we have the chance to choose.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom”.  Viktor Frankl

Neurologist and psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl, was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War.  He suffered greatly and was stripped of everything.  This included his wife, parents, brother, career and his human dignity. Yet, he discovered the following:

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”.

As Believer’s we need to choose to live and respond to everything that happens to us in a Godly way.  We have to step out of our comfort zone and be willing to learn to change.

You are Jehovah Mekoddishkem, the Lord who sanctifies us.  We pray that you would sanctify us. That we would find favour in your eyes and in the eyes of the world.  That we would emulate your very nature and that our light will shine brightly at all times drawing people to You. Amen.