As stores are putting Christmas stuff out for sale, so those who do extensive, detailed Christmas decorating must begin well ahead of display time. Barb, my wife, who loves to decorate for this season of seasons, starts her behind-the-scene preparations long before the actual time. She keeps an eye open year-round for bargains on Christmas-related stuff, but come October, she starts getting strings of lights out of storage to test them. The items having lights that have been in storage need to be tested before they are taken out to be displayed. A rat, mouse or a broken wire can render the item without shine. A pretty, clear-spired, sputnik-like star, that hangs from the ceiling, would not shine. A star that does not shine is just not a star when it comes to Christmas time. She was disappointed that the pretty ornament would not shine. She changed the batteries. It still did not shine. She cleaned some corrosion off the connections. It still did not shine. She was determined to make that star shine. She checked the connections again and “vigorously” cleaned corrosion off. Vwalah! It shone brightly. It now hangs in its corner as she continues to decorate inside the house. Later, after the inside is done, the whole decorating process will move outside. Sometimes our light fails to shine. This can be due to some corrosion on our connection. When we are solidly connected to the Lord Jesus Christ, our light will shine. Sometimes our connection is corroded with our own self-righteous, religious goodness. There is only one way to be right with God, and that is by faith in the pure righteousness and finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Our goodness is not the savior. Jesus is the Savior. When we scrub our goodness off the connection and just trust that what Jesus did for us is enough with God, then our light can shine in peace. When we scrub off our legal religious good works and see that the work of Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection is what makes us right with God, then we can shine in His righteousness. When we turn from and clean the sin off our connection, then we can shine with no condemnation. When we clean the corrosion off the connection of dead, religious head knowledge and doctrine, and anoint it with the oil of the Spirit, then the connection is sealed by the power of God to help us keep it clean. With the star plugged in to the power source, it can shine with the life, liberty, and power of God for all to see. We are no longer a star in dark form only—having a form of godliness with no power. With a clean connection to the life and power source, we can shine to the glory of God. By faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can do the works of God. Clean the connections and shine brothers and sisters! Shine!
Corrosion on the Connection
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