Do You Want To Shine?

Today’s Passage – Leviticus 5 – 7; Proverbs 4

(Second Milers also read Luke 24; memorize Psalm 119:11)

“But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” – (Proverbs 4:18)

In yesterday’s post I spoke a little bit about the Old Testament offerings or sacrifices, and how they all pointed to the ultimate sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. In chapters 5 – 7 of Leviticus today, we were introduced to the trespass offering, and we also learned some more details regarding the O. T. sacrificial system. Rather than repeat much of the same information that I discussed yesterday, I have opted to write a thought from the passage in Proverbs.

In verse 18 of chapter 4, the Bible speaks about the path of the just. The word “just” in the Bible means righteous, which is often used to speak of someone who is saved. The saved person is positionally righteous or just in the sight of the Lord, because his sins have been forgiven. Consider these New Testament verses:

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. … Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” – (Romans 3:20, 24)

The concept of justification is very interesting. When a person gets saved, God sees them as completely just or righteous. In fact Romans 3:22 tells us that God gives us the righteousness of God when we believe. Yet, we know that in a practical sense, our lives are really anything but righteous. We know that we are still sinners, undeserving of his mercy; but because of our relationship with Christ, God is merciful and gracious towards us.

However, in Proverbs 4:18, I believe the context would require that this “just” person is not only just in a positional way; but he is also “just” in a practical way; not perfectly, of course, because there is a not [perfectly] just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not.(Ecclesiastes 7:20) However, the idea of this verse is that this man’s path is pointed in the right direction. He is moving closer and closer to perfection, or maturity. His life is conforming to the very image of Christ as he is walking in the Spirit and yielding to the will of God. The result of all this is that His light is shining brighter and brighter each day.

I remember years ago listening to a preacher on the radio who was answering questions from his listeners. One lady had asked his opinion regarding dancing. He gave a very interesting answer. He told the lady that as a Christian she had the liberty to go dancing if she chose too, but then he asked the lady if she was concerned about shining the light of the Lord to others around her. He basically stated that if we are to shine in our Christian life, there will be certain things that perhaps we may enjoy, that we should be willing to sarifice. The basic idea of this verse is that if we are walking in the path of the just, we will be walking in the Spirit, away from the world, and toward the image of Christ. Let me ask you the question that radio preacher asked his audience that day: Do you want to shine?