You are the light
“and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, … circumcision is a matter of the heart.” (Rom 2:17-29)
Someone is looking up to you. Do you aspire to be a guide, a light, an instructor, or one that some people imitate? As you advance in education or business, as you listen the gospel affirm your faith, there is in each one of us a God-given mandate to lead others, to inspire, to help them become better, even to bring them closer to God. It is time for you to review your performance in that position.
One of the challenges of being a Pastor’s child is managing expectations from those who know that bit of your background; some hope you should turn out to be an angel, while others have seen the worst rogues out of this group and think all are alike. The Priest is expected to be a guide, a light, a teacher, and his offspring should follow in that way, and some indeed become even greater pastors; but there are some who go the opposite direction and shatter the expectations of parents and public! The saying Paul quotes is applicable to this situation: “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Rom 2:24). Indeed some people go farther away from church and Christ because of the darkness in the children of ‘light’.
The Jewish recipients of Paul’s letter to the Romans had many among them who only boasted of their circumcision background and counted it so high a qualification. They took pride in being of the Jewish race that they considered more favoured by God than any other. They looked down upon the Gentiles with such scorn oblivious of God’s salvation plan for all humankind. Theirs was supposed to be a position at the door to usher Gentiles into the Kingdom of God, but they instead just stood in the way and blocked intending entrants instead! In what matters have we behaved the same way?
In whatever you do, remember, someone is looking up to you. The desire for quick gains has inundated our papers with scandal after scandal, and many of these involve members of Christian Churches, and children of ‘light’. Are you able to tame your desires and put on patience so that you may have the joy of being a faithful steward? It is not enough to have a good background, or even a tough and bad one; your position of influencing others requires deliberate surrender to the will of God today; it is a matter of the heart.
God bless you!