ARISE AND SHINE

Up! let your face be bright, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is shining on you.

Isaiah 60:1 (BBE)

We live in a dark world. Regardless of the outstanding technological advances and sophistication, the hearts of men are increasingly evil and their deeds, vile. Yet, we have been sent as kingdom citizens to shine amid this gross darkness. Our identity as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is that we are LIGHT, and we have been sent to show forth the Light of God.
Kingdom citizens are not only light; their mandate is to arise and shine. As Jesus points out,

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.

Matthew 5:15

While some Christians have put their candle under the bushel of sin, others put it under the bushel of worldliness. As kingdom citizens, our light must be seen and felt. It must point others to Jesus, the True Light. (John 1:9).
How, then, do we shine our light? How do we rise from the dust of complacency, worldliness, and conformity to the world’s standards? How do we fulfill our responsibilities as Kingdom Citizens?
Awareness is the first step to this. You cannot reveal what you don’t know. Neither can you fulfill what you are ignorant of? Knowing our identity as representatives of the King of Glory positions us to truly represent Him in our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is the bedrock of establishing God’s Kingdom on earth. It is the foundation for God’s will to be done in our earth as it is in Heaven.

The next step is Engagement. We must engage what we know. As light, we must engage the Word of God to engage our world with the truth of God’s Word. God’s word is a light to our feet and a lamp to our path. (Psalm. 119: 105). No true citizen of a kingdom is lackadaisical about the affairs of that kingdom. As kingdom citizens, our hands must be on the plow. We must be ready to obey our king and do the things pleasing to Him. God’s kingdom has principles that govern it, and we must be intentional about engaging these principles.

These principles include faith, love, prayers, fellowship with other believers, tithing, and giving, amongst others. As we engage the principles of God’s Kingdom, we are empowered to destroy the works of darkness. Darkness can only thrive where light is absent, or blindness is evident. Since the God of this world specializes in blinding the eyes of men, one of our responsibilities as Kingdom citizens is to open the eyes of the blind, just as our Lord Jesus did.

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Isaiah 42:7

God has empowered us to be His ambassadors of light on the earth. He has given us His Spirit to enable us to rise and shine. For as darkness covers the earth and gross darkness fills the heart of men in the last days, God’s call for us to glow in the dark is clearer than before.

We must fulfill this mandate as Kingdom Citizens. It is our high calling.