Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven
• DAILY READING John 1:19-34; 1 Chronicles 7-8; Zephaniah 3
Amy Wilson Carmichael is probably one of the most influential women that ever lived in church history. Amy was born in Ireland but travelled to India to serve as a missionary in the early 20th century. She served in India for 55 years.
In India, Amy’s most notable work was with girls and young women, saved from forced prostitution in the Hindu temples. These young girls, according to the Indian custom, were given away by their families to serve in the temple. However they were forced by the priests to engage in prostitution as a way of earning money for them.
One day one of these young girls escaped and ran to Amy for help. Amy took her in and sheltered her. And that was how Amy’s ministry of rescuing temple children started. Soon other young girls escaping from temple prostitution would run to her for help. Amy took many of these young girls in, providing food and shelter for them. And she would often travel long distances on India’s hot, dusty roads to locate any of these escaping girls and offer assistance.
Amy opened an orphanage and founded the Dohnavur Fellowship in 1901, which became a sanctuary for over one thousand children who would otherwise have faced a bleak future.
Her efforts led to India outlawing temple prostitution in 1948.
Amy Carmichael died in India in 1951 at the age of 83. However, the Dohnavur Fellowship she founded, still continues today, now run by Indians. Many years after her death, the impact of her work still speaks in India and around the world.
Matthew 5:16 says ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’
Just as Amy went into an evil system and made a difference, God wants us to shine the light of Christ to the dark world around us.
We are the light to our world. We are the salt of the earth. We are to positively affect our environment by allowing the glorious light of Christ’s Gospel to shine through us.
Jesus walked on the earth 2000 years ago, and the Light He shined shattered the darkness of the ages. Today we are Jesus’ legs, and hands and mouthpiece. We are the manifest form of Jesus that men see.
In John 14:12 Jesus sys ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do;’
We are called to do greater works by the power of God.
We are called to be co-laborers with God to bring people into alignment with His will. Lives are ruined and our job is to introduce men to the power of God that will make them whole again.
We are invading the earth system with power of God. The kingdom of God must dominate the kingdom of this world. And we are the agents of change God has sent to effect this.
In generations past, God had planted people like Joseph, Daniel and Esther, among a wicked generation. They went in as agents of God to affect and change the system, And in the midst of the wicked nations, they let their lights so shine that men saw their good works and glorified God. In the same way we must let the light of Christ be seen through us.
We are ambassadors of Heaven. Everywhere we go, the atmosphere should shift. Lives are to be changed, destinies recovered. There should be a difference, because we came.
Amy Carmichael made a difference in her generation. In our own generation we can also make a difference. And this will happen when we can truly submit to the pursuit of Christlikeness. As the nature of Christ shines through us, men will indeed see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.
PRAYER: Lord, please use me in this generation to affect my world. Help me to submit to the pursuit of Christlikeness, so that my light can shine to bring men into Your kingdom in Jesus Name.
QUOTE
There is something that God has placed within you that the world is eagerly awaiting to see. WORDBITE 222.
[ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK TRIUMPH OF LIGHT OVER DARKNESS]