A city on a hill cannot be hidden

Don’t let your frustration with the evil of this world intimidate, discourage, wear you out or make you deny Jesus. Use your struggles as stepping stones to come up higher and to stir up your faith! Jesus said, "you are the light of the world - A city on a hill cannot be hidden".

As long as we're still living in this world, we will be faced with various battles. And unfortunately, those battles will become worse as we draw nearer to the second coming of our Lord. We should stay strong in the meantime and not lose heart. We need to pray all the time and ask God to strengthen and encourage us. As Christians, we always need to remind ourselves that our best rewards are stored up in heaven.

In Jesus days, salt was used to keep meat from going bad. When Jesus asks us to be salt and light, He is telling us not to get stagnant, not to be afraid and hide, not to be ashamed of Him, and most of all not to give up! It's difficult when we are living in a world where political correctness, fitting-in, and pleasing society has much more weight than our faith. No matter what our circumstances are here and now, we need to stand strong in our faith and never give up. We have to be His hand and feet and we need to be salt and light to the world that the world may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven. Remember that it's never about us, it's all about Him!

My pastor is often critized for his pep-talks... folks claim that he's always encouraging people and giving them false hope. I disagree! My pastor says it takes the same amount of energy to think negatively as it takes to think positively - so why not use that same energy toward 'positive thinking'? He is always encouraging us to stay up-beat, to stir up our faith, to stay hopeful, to live a life of integrity, to humble ourselves, to be joyful and thankful to God no matter what comes our way, to be forgiving instead of judging, to be kind to people, etc. Well, didn't Jesus encourage the crowd at the mountainside with a similar message? (see Matthew 5:1-48).

God bless,

Lucine