A Calling To Shine: Lighting the Way For Others to See Jesus

What does it mean to be called to shine? 

Just as Paul challenged the Philippians to shine like stars in the universe — we love the powerful visual to shine and the heritage it comes from.  Light is talked about in 200+ passages in the Bible. It begins early in Genesis and continues through Revelation. In the book of John, we see light all through hitting a peak and crescendo when Jesus said:  “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 

And John also says “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5 This aspect is important because darkness is heavy.  Light is truth revealed. Darkness is truth concealed.   Light and Darkness in the Bible describe physical truths and physical dynamics but are metaphors for Spiritual Truths and spiritual dynamics as well.

AND Not only is Jesus the light but in Matt 5:14-16  Jesus says “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” We are blown away that not only is He the light but He passes the baton to us, saying I am making you a light to the world — to take the light, to show others the way.

What are the motives here? To give light and life——who would not want to share a precious resource?!

Sometimes it’s tempting to try and make ourselves shiny for people: to  look good on the outside, so others will notice us— thinking we are taking the light to the world. But that is not what we are talking about here.  God has called us to “shine from the inside out. How do we do that?   Follow along and explore with us the ways to shine.

So This Season we will talk about walking with God and being a light that shines out his love. We will look at two things Jesus called us to: Loving God & Loving our Neighbor. It might sound easy, but reality is that it’s anything but easy. We look forward to sharing our failures and our successes in Loving God and Loving others as well as hearing yours. We hope to hear from you on the called_toshine instagram account.

We will be talking much about neighbors, and you may wonder “who is my neighbor?”  Is this my literal next door neighbor or down the street neighbor?” And our answer is yes, plus.  So when we talk about neighbors— we mean anyone in our path that we can show mercy and love:  could be where we live, or work, or play,  or the coffee barista even.  God has blessed each of us with unique personalities, gifting, resources as well as capacity and divinely put people in our path so we can reflect His Love toward them.

So, buckle up for an exciting journey this season as we uncover what it truly means to be 'Called to Shine'.

SOCIAL MEDIA: @called_toshine Instagram.
Follow us on Instagram and enjoy the community as we spur each other on through inspiration, encouragement, and equipping.

And always you can find resources to help you connect to the people around you at NBS2GO! (nbs2go.com)

— A ministry of NBS2GO: Neighbor Bible Studies to Go and Cru

Transcript

Pam McCune: 0:05

Hey Jess lyn here and Pam, welcome to the community where we know Jesus is our light.

Jesslyn Adams: 0:11

And we are here to spur each other on to love God and others right where we live. We are called to shine. It's time. Season one is here. Welcome everyone to called to shine. On this podcast, we'll introduce ourselves, give an overview of the season and explain the meaning of called to shine. I am one of your hosts,Jesslyn Adams, an avid pickleballer, wife and mom of two fun boys, here with my friend, Pam McCune.

Pam McCune: 0:39

Jesslyn, it's so good to be here with you. I love being a co-host with you. So, pam, here, a recovering perfectionist, a wife, mom and a grand mom. My grandma name is Bamie and I have two precious grand littles.

Jesslyn Adams: 0:54

I love it, pam. I'm so glad that we get to be here together. Pam and I actually had the privilege of working together with Cu City, with the NBS to Go team Neighbor Bible Studies to Go. That's what it stands for, and we have a lot in common as we are both Texans and we both graduated from Texas Tech, although in different generations. No big deal Now. Pam called to shine is a new podcast, but it has actually been around for two years as an Instagram account, sparing people on to love God and others where they live, and, as you are a part of that launching, where did the name called to shine come from?

Pam McCune: 1:26

And we considered hundreds of name options to kick off the Instagram account. We wanted it to be a safe place and a safe name for millennials and Gen Z's and we landed on the name called to shine because it resonated with all the team, from all generations. We love the motivation that it held out, that the heart of wanting to be a light to others came down to a calling. It was just as Paul challenged the Philippians to shine like stars in the universe. We love the powerful visual to shine and the heritage that came with it. Lights talked about in over 200 passages in the Bible.

Pam McCune: 2:02

It begins early in Genesis and it continues all through Revelation. In Genesis one we see the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and God said let there be light. It was the first thing to let there be. And as we continue we see in Psalms all kinds of encouragement about light. My favorite the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? And if you fast forward you get to the book of John and we see a central theme of light in it that pinnacles. It hits that crescendo when Jesus does his second I am statement and says I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Just when I love that visual of the light of life, it's such an encouragement to me of four words that I can't get over. What stands out to you when you hear that?

Jesslyn Adams: 2:57

You know, right now I'm getting this picture of me walking on a path in the dark and I have this flashlight that's leading me and guiding me through this darkness and it inspires me to have faith and to keep taking that next step. And, pam, it also actually reminds me of one of my first ever camping trips as, like a single adult out of college, I have to tell you about it I went with a bunch of friends. We thought we're going to go camping. I've never been before. And so we went on this camping trip and the guys near where they were going thank God we arrived at night had no lay of the land showed up. They told us where to pitch our tents.

Jesslyn Adams: 3:32

I'm looking for the restroom and guess what? There really isn't one. We just have to go out and find a spot to go. And I'm thinking I don't even know how far to go away with this flashlight, so that we can be in private. And so my friend Tracy and I, we just started walking out there and I'll tell you, you know, normally being outside doesn't scare me. When it's pitch dark, I don't know why I'm about to walk on. Is it a snake, is it a spider? And so that flashlight. It actually brought me comfort and peace as we tried out to go to the restroom that night.

Pam McCune: 4:00

So I get the reality that when you don't know the lay of the land, there could be anything under you. The one thing we don't want to be surprised by is extra guests when we're doing our own private business. So praise God for phone flashlights or anything else that brings light in the middle of the darkness. John talks about the darkness and light. He says the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. I think you experience the darkness not overcoming you in those scary things, but the aspect is really important about how darkness can be heavy. I even go back to thinking about the 10 plagues and how they built on each other. It is interesting that the 10th plague is the plague of death and the one right before that is the plague of darkness over the entire land. Darkness truly can be heavy.

Pam McCune: 4:50

I'm studying Genesis in the Bible study. I'm involved in this semester and so I'm getting to study all about light. Jerry, my husband, he's in Bible study fellowship and they're studying John. We've been talking together about this light and this darkness and so I asked him. I said what does this mean to you, this verse? The darkness has not overcome it. He gave me this blurb. He said light is truth revealed, darkness is truth concealed. I love his little quip Light is truth revealed, darkness is truth concealed. It makes me think how light and darkness that are all through scripture are physical truths, maybe physical dynamics, but they're also metaphors for spiritual truths and spiritual dynamics as well.

Jesslyn Adams: 5:36

Pam. I like that. It does make me think of a metaphor that a mentor when I was in college shared with me and she told me Jesslyn, hey, you need to bring your struggles out into the light. And I'm like, what is she talking about? You know, just turning the lights, she goes. Look, when we struggle with sin, we tend to have guilt and shame, as we're trying to hide that and keep it in the darkness of no one else knows that it's not a problem. But she encouraged me that once I confess that to God and to a friend out in the open, the enemy no longer had a foothold over me and there was freedom and grace and forgiveness. When that truth is revealed and brought into the light that is powerful.

Pam McCune: 6:12

As the season goes on, I hope we get to share what that looks like, to have a safe friend to share those secrets with. I kind of laughed because one time in a prayer group a friend of ours didn't know the beginning was silent confession. So when they opened it and said now we're going to confess our sins, she just opened up and confessed all our sin before the whole group and Jerry, my husband, was leading the group and so after she shared, he just said and in God's name, we pray amen. Truthfully, you and I look forward to this podcast being very authentic and real, not just here of you and I sharing together, but we really hope that an audience y'all will engage with us too on the Instagram account. That's why we love them being in partnership, because we're hoping it is a conversation all the way around, not just just one and I talking, everyone getting to hear from each other and to truly be in community together.

Pam McCune: 7:05

As we finish looking at the light verses and we look at the last one it goes back to not only is Jesus the light, but in Matthew, jesus hands the baton to us and he says you are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on the stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way. Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. I'm blown away that not only is he the light because he is the light, he's what shows us what path to take but that he's actually passing the baton, not for us to be God, not for us to be Jesus or the Holy Spirit, but he's passing the baton for us to light the way to others, to take the light that's within us, to show the way to others as well. Jess, and what stands out to you in that passage?

Jesslyn Adams: 7:58

Man, I love that passage. What stands out to me is the fact that the lamp, the small little lamp, gives light to everyone in the house and it's crazy to think about how one light say the light that I have can affect not only my life but can impact so many others around me. It's a ripple effect and, like you said before, I think you told me the history behind this that no one, especially at that time when this was written, would light a lamp and put it under a basket because it was such a precious commodity. So what are the motives here? They wanted to give light and life. Who would not want to share a precious resource like this?

Pam McCune: 8:31

So I'll be honest, Jess, and sometimes it's tempting for me to try to make myself shiny so I look good on the outside, so other people actually want to notice me and get to know me, to get to know the God inside me. But actually that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about taking the light to the world so others will notice, so that God is shining from the inside out in us. How do we do that?

Jesslyn Adams: 8:56

Great question Pam. As we're in relationship with Jesus, he gives us His Holy Spirit and His light and as we walk with Him he shines from inside us out to others. We're to shine the light of Christ from our lives into their lives, not with an ulterior motive, but with the heart of inviting people into a meaningful relationship with us, so that Jesus can invite them into a relationship with Him.

Pam McCune: 9:20

So this season we are going to talk about walking with God and being a light that shines out His love. We'll look at two things that Jesus called us to specifically loving God and loving our neighbor and it might sound easy, but reality is that it's anything but easy. We look forward to sharing our failures, of how it didn't quite work, and our successes in loving God and loving others. As well as hearing yours, we want to encourage you to go find called to shine it's called the underline to to shine Instagram account and friend us and begin with us on this journey, and we're going to continue to talk much about neighbors and you may wonder who is my neighbor?

Jesslyn Adams: 10:02

Is this my literal next door neighbor that I see all the time, or down the street? And our answer is yes, plus could be the person that you encounter at the store. We will use Jesus' definition of neighbor when he was asked who is my neighbor and he told the story of the Good Samaritan. Do you remember the story in Luke 10?

Jesslyn Adams: 10:20

A couple of men passed by a man on the road who had been beaten badly and left to die, but the Good Samaritan stopped and showed mercy to the man. The Good Samaritan took the time to stop and see his needs. He offered up his oil and wine and shared his resources, like his donkey, to carry him to a place where he could recover. Jesus calls us likewise to show love and mercy to anyone in our path, not just our physical neighbor next door. So when we talk about neighbors, we mean anyone in our path that we can show mercy and love could be where we live, where we work, play the coffee barista. Even God has blessed each of us with unique personalities, giftings and resources, as well as capacity, and divinely put people in our path daily so that we can reflect his love toward them.

Pam McCune: 11:04

I'm curious when did God first nudge your heart to notice and care and have compassion for the people around you?

Jesslyn Adams: 11:11

Pam, I must confess and be honest that in grade school I didn't think of others. Often, in fact, my mother laughs about how I took an aptitude test in servanthood was the lowest. In fact they had said I've never seen a child score so low on an aptitude test for servanthood. So Jesus, kind of hold my heart. Thankfully, and it was so I was right out of college that I began to think oh, there's other people besides me. I was recently graduated, living in H-town, otherwise known as Houston.

Jesslyn Adams: 11:37

Me and two other girls were living, starting our new jobs, and two other guys lived in the floor below us. We were on the third floor of an apartment. They were on the second floor and I noticed we passed each other often in the stairway going up and down, and God began to burden my heart just to pray for them to actually not be in a hurry. When I engaged with them I noticed when I come home, hey, if I see them, don't be in a rush to get inside, just give them a couple minutes. And I really started to get to know them. Then also fast forward the pandemic we all know literally our next door neighbor might have been all we had around us when we were in quarantine and I got to see my neighbors outside. People started coming out of their homes walking their dogs, playing with their kids and slowly, as they shared the highs and lows of their life, god burdened my heart to really want to pray for them and to know them and to love and care for them.

Pam McCune: 12:23

That is so powerful. It's the power of a burdened heart stopping to see them and then stopping to engage. Most of us want to care for others, but it usually comes down to our schedules Needing to be somewhere at a certain time. It could be those two other guys that walk past the hurting and bleeding guide, not because we're uncompassionate, but because we just don't have capacity and time in our schedule. We need to see people with our Jesus glasses on, to see them through Jesus' eyes and have compassion and see. Oh, this may be the one time that somebody stops and cares for them on their path, and that's what you did. That really stands out to me.

Pam McCune: 13:03

I do not have any life-shattering big stories to share, but I do remember back to seventh grade and, believe it or not, I was a really shy child that didn't talk much in elementary and I certainly didn't talk much in junior high, because I was one of 10% of my elementary school that was sent to one junior high where 90% went to the other. I did not know a single soul in my classes and I felt all alone. I walked around with that deer in the headlight all the way through class to class those first few days and I remember being pretty nervous to talk to people. I talked internally to God often I just had a rambling conversation of saying get me through this, help me. I want to survive this. Let's not even get into the lunch period where I was going to sit, because I certainly wasn't going to be the person to make a new friend and experience rejection.

Pam McCune: 13:58

But I went to my new home room and God nudged my heart to befriend a girl who looked confident on the outside and this was big for me because I was anything but confident, but God had been pressed upon me that she actually needed me. I had never had that thought before. As I befriended her in time, I saw the light in me pass on to become the light in her as she said yes to Jesus. You know, jesslyn, we became friends, good friends, for many of the next six years of junior high and high school and I just think, lord, thank you for nudging my heart To reach out to her. It was nothing I did except for being willing to say hello and let a friendship begin.

Jesslyn Adams: 14:35

Wow, pam, that was so brave of you, and what faith it took to step out of your comfort zone and follow God's nudge. It's crazy how just a simple conversation can change everything, and that's the kind of stuff we want to talk about this season. In season one of Called to Shine, we will journey together on how to shine out God's love this fall through the big three holidays and through living real life. It will look different for each of us depending on our capacity, gifting and season of life, but all of us have a calling to love God and love others. We will dig into what the Bible says about our calling, what that looks like and what it doesn't look like and what do we know about stars?

Pam McCune: 15:09

We know that stars shine brightest that are closest. Proximity is everything. Consider the sun. It's not the biggest star, but it is the closest and it gives us light and warmth. We'll not only look about who are the people around us that God's going to put into our path, about location that we can just shine out using the holidays. We're also going to look at how stars shine brightest when it's darkest, and so as we hit those holidays, that might actually be a negative trigger of who's not with us. What has changed? Not being able to be with family, or maybe not wanting to be with family Any of us can be in a dark season. So how do we get through that and how do we actually help the people around us get through that as well? And then we're going to look at how stars shine brightest in a cluster and how can we take what our gifting is and pair it with somebody else's gifting to shine even brighter. And another thing that stands out is that stars shine brightest that are the most luminous, the ones that have the most power within. So for us, how do we let the spirit be the power within us and shine out, and not try to add too much more to our schedule, but just take advantage of the nudging that God puts on our path that we can use our giftings to do who are the people around us, that we can shine brightly by just walking through life and relationship with Jesus and shining out of his love. Join us on this journey as we spur each other on. Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

Pam McCune: 16:41

Justin, when we moved in to our house 30 years ago, two of my friends actually bought pieces of land nearest and started building their house. When they moved in, we gave each of them this two foot magnolia tree. It was kind of fascinating because one of them grew really quickly and the other did not. As we watched them, we kind of laughed at my second friend what are you doing to this tree? Maybe you need to go talk to it. And she's like I'm watering it. It's in the sun, it's everything that it's supposed to be. But it took 15 years for that tree to ever grow. It wouldn't break through the ground where the other was as tall as the house.

Pam McCune: 17:23

And so what we've learned about building relationships is that our part is that we pour in and we care, we engage, we authentically share our life and we try to relate to people. But how they respond, how they flourish in our relationship, is not up to us. But we want to encourage. Don't give up. It might be scary but it might be 15 years before that tree of life friendship breaks through and that you get to see what God's been doing through the relationship. And the truth is we can't control what people take from the light that we're shining them. Our part is just to guide them in the path and trust God with the rest of the part and their part as well.

Jesslyn Adams: 18:05

I love that, Pam, God's part and our part. We're just there to sow seeds and God does the growing, and that's exactly what we want to do together with you guys this season. Journey with us on season one of the podcast. Subscribe anywhere podcasts are found. We are called to shine. Let's do this together.