Whitney Ballard

Let Your Light Shine

“If the front porch light is on, then trick-or-treaters are welcome there,” my parents would tell me when I bounced through the streets dressed as Pocahontas, or Belle, with my candy basket and little brother in tow.

I remember sighing when we would pass by a home with a dark front porch, wondering why they chose not to participate in the costume and candy madness unfolding outside. As I’m growing older and am a mom, I understand there are countless reasons people don’t have their porch lights on. As well, I understand that many, like my family, hand out candy and have kids who dress up in costumes and get candy from the neighbors.

Last year, we moved into a new neighborhood—and much to our surprise, this place was the town’s Halloween hotspot. The neighbors’ kids had wiped out our candy stash within the hour, and our front porch pumpkins looked rather bare in comparison to others’ grand décor.

After that, we knew we wouldn’t be caught unprepared again. This October, we are well equipped with a giant inflatable and a slew of multicolored pumpkins lining the front steps. The best additions, though, are our porch lights. In an attempt to be extra festive, we changed out all of our home’s outside lights from their basic white to a fun purple. Now, when you turn on our street, you can’t help but notice the purple glow that stems from every corner of the yard and every security light.

Within the first day, two neighbors stopped to ask where we got those “cool” lights from, and since then, I’ve thought a lot about those lights. Especially, when thinking about Jesus Christ’s message to have our “light” shine for others through the moral ways we live.

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 AMP)

It may not be as easy as changing out a few lightbulbs, but I believe with all my heart it’s worth it to shine the light of Christ by how we live. We can start by not judging others because of how they do or don’t celebrate Halloween. Each day, we can repent of any darkness in our lives and clear the way for God to shine, sharing it proudly for the world to see—and using it all for His glory.

Today, if your porch light is off when it comes to living in such a way that He is glorified, you’re not only missing out on a lot of fun, but also fulfillment, and a great big community that is always ready to meet you with open arms.

So, today and every day, let’s leave our porch lights on!

~

Jesus Faces the Ultimate Betrayal

Betrayal always hurts. However, it especially hurts when you feel betrayed by someone close to you. There’s no worse feeling than believing someone is in your “circle”, your friend group, your support system – only to find out that they haven’t been genuine in the relationship.

When this has happened to me in the past, as many of us have experienced, my instinct has been to ignore it and retreat from the relationship. However, these situations remind me of Jesus’ response to the betrayal among His 12 disciples. What did Jesus do when betrayal occurred in the circle He created? How did Jesus respond to the heartache He experienced from those He ate dinner with and confided in? Let us follow His example of acknowledgment and grace in these circumstances.

In Matthew 26, Jesus addressed His disciples and stated what He knew to be true – that one of these men was conspiring to betray Him. Though heartbroken, Jesus continued on and even eventually prayed with His disciples, regardless of His imminent fate.

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41 KJV).

Jesus cared for His disciples’ salvation, despite the betrayal from one of them. At the same time, Jesus did not let the betrayal go unnoticed; but rather used it as an example of how weak we are in the flesh.

Betrayal hurts, but it is only made bearable by the realization that we live in a fallen world that often allows space for betrayal and heartache; we are not perfect, and we fall short of Jesus’ example. When we realize this as Christians, it makes forgiveness possible. In addition to forgiveness, it brings peace and comfort knowing that Jesus has not only covered our sins, but also those who have wronged us.

Jesus does not want us to be walked on, as He Himself did not let others’ wrongdoings go unnoticed; however, when we realize that we too fall short daily in our walk with the Lord, we become humble enough to accept the things we cannot change – which includes the actions of others.

Next time you are dealing with deceit from an outside source, remember Jesus’ firm yet loving approach to insincerity – for this approach will leave you at peace, rather than feeling empty.

Our Traditions

This week, I’ve been busy planning my son’s 11^th birthday party. The venue isn’t fancy—it will be a backyard ordeal, equipped with a kickball game and a trampoline. The menu isn’t elaborate. A few boxes of pizza and a tub of ice cream will surely take the culinary spotlight. And the guest list isn’t long. The grandparents and neighbors’ kids make up the majority of it.

Yet, I will still find a way to stress over everything. I will probably forget something, such as the candles, and beat myself up over it. I will fixate on cleaning the guest bathroom. I will worry about not having enough seating. I will find some random detail that’s not up to par and derail myself from the joy of the event itself.

I could already feel the tension arising last night. You see, I snapped at my husband, who innocently forgot to invite his sister, and tweaked a detail on the cake order from Publix. I found myself experiencing misplaced rage over something so very silly.

All of this unnecessary worry I had about maintaining tradition caused me to forget about what truly mattered, as I acted in a way I’m now embarrassed about.

Fast forward to this morning, as I read through the 15^th chapter of Matthew and was immediately reminded of what Jesus shares with us about tradition:

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?”

In this chapter of Matthew, God reminds the Pharisees that their laws and customs are not above God’s. Jesus shares the important reminder that God’s commandments should come first, before any laws of man, traditions, or anything, for that matter.

This hit hard as I thought about the many details I had allowed to cloud my judgment and take my energy—when in reality, acting kindly and humbly as God intended is far more important than any self-made or traditional expectations of me.

Jesus said unto the Pharisees: “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them” (Matthew 15:17-18).

Let us not use our traditions as an excuse to forget our tongues or manners, even to those closest to us. I personally am working on this every day. This weekend, I choose to focus more on my son’s joy and less about the details that I’ve often deemed too important. Thank you, Jesus, for the reminder that Your commandments are the details in which we should fix our vision.

~

Miracles Happen When We Least Expect Them

Miracles—we see them on television, online, in books, and sometimes, in our very own lives. The question is—what do we do with these miracles that we see, or read about, or most importantly, experience ourselves?

God has performed countless miracles in my life. Looking back, my first human instinct is to ask “how” and “why”? I tried to find reason within the miracles of my life. Instead, God met me in my darkest moments.

I was a teen, finding out I would soon become a mother. Alone. I was sure my life was over. But God!

There was no luck about it. God carried me emotionally and spiritually, and He provided financially. During the most trying days of my life, God filled in the gaps and performed an absolute miracle in my life! I founded a relationship with God during this time ... which is a miracle in itself.

You see, God performs miracles out of our realm of understanding. They don’t always make sense to the human eye. They don’t always follow the trends or statistics.

He is the one you praise; He is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.” (Deuteronomy 10:21)

Your eyes are not deceiving you. God creates miracles from scratch, with no need for reason and logic. He is capable of all things!

When I begin to doubt the miracles in my life, big or small, I think back to the story of the blind man that Jesus healed. Jesus used mud to cover this man’s eyes and then told him to wash his eyes at the river. Once the man washed his eyes, he could see!

In John 9:3, Jesus assured us that this man was not blind because of sin, as many of his peers had suspected:

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

This reminds us that God does not put us through trials out of punishment but because He is using us so that others may see Him through us.

In John 9, the Pharisees question HOW this man could now SEE. It didn’t make sense to them! It couldn’t be!

Oh, how often I have acted like the Pharisees when something just didn’t make sense to me, questioning just how God orchestrated everything out for my good. But God reminds us in Mark 9:23,

“All things are possible to him who believes.”

ALL things are possible, not just the things that can be explained, understood, or broken down. God said ALL things. Let’s believe him. If He can heal a blind man, what can He do for us?

~

Whitney

Ballard

Contributing Writer

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