Oh Church, come stand in the light

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light!
The glory of God has defeated the night!

I love these lyrics from Matt Maher's "Christ is Risen"...brings tears to my eyes every time I hear the song, because it reminds me of how real and powerful and awesome my God is. And it fuels my love for the Church and passion to see us be fully who God desires us to be. THIS is our purpose - to come stand in the light, so show the world that Christ is real and that his glory has defeated the darkness. No matter what pain we see around us, what brokenness, what famine or nakedness or sword, Christ has already won and is at work now pushing the darkness back. And WE are called to be a part of it - we get the humbling, undeserved privilege of joining with him in bringing the light into the darkness, in showing His glory to the world, his wild love and deep passion for us, his just heart and character, his kindness and fire. Before we post anything on facebook, before we decide to engage in conversation around current bathroom issues or declare our opinions on sexuality or politics or any number of things, THIS is the purpose we should have on our minds.

Personally, this is the test I try to run everything through before I open my mouth or put pen to paper. We have the incredible honor of walking with Christ and showing his glory to the world. We have the beautiful but heavy calling of showing the world his grace and salvation. We are meant to join with Christ in showing the reality of his power; the reality that he has defeated the night; that he is the answer we are all looking for. My prayer for the Church is that this would always be on the forefront of our minds, that we wouldn't get caught up focusing on issues or opinions that take away from the glory of Christ, from the beautiful truth of what he has done and the enormity of our calling to show this to the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IExdrZGQVeI