Stop Trying To Shine, Start Getting Filled

Real talk, most of the guilt around evangelism comes from being told to shine without ever being filled. Jesus started somewhere different.

Mark 4:21 says, "And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?" A lit candle does not strain to shine. That is simply what light does when nothing is covering it.

The early church had no platforms and no strategy documents, and the message still moved. What they had was a love they had actually experienced. Ephesians 3:19 says, "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

That is what people noticed. John 13:35 says, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Not by argument. Not by how well anyone defended a position.

And the fruit was never something they generated. John 15:16 says, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." He chose. He ordained. The going and the fruit came after that, not before it.

So before you worry about what to post or what to say, let the Holy Spirit fill you up again. You cannot pour out something you have not received. Let Him love you first, and shining stops feeling like a task you have to perform.