How do you spend your 24 hours? Philippians 2:12-16

Philippians 2:12-16 (New Living Translation)

Shine Brightly for Christ

12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. 16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.


What would the world be like if we all adopted verse 14 as our motto. What if we actually lived a life without complaining and arguing? How would life really look?

I am an over critical person. I criticize everything and everyone. Nothing escapes my critical eye! (What are blogs for if you can't be honest right). I acknowledge my criticalness to the point where one time I actually went on a criticism fast for several days. During that time I was forced to see the world differently. No more could i point fingers at a situation or at a person without first pointing the fingers at myself. For a few couple of days I think I experienced what this scripture is talking about.

Each day we are given 24 hours to live life to the fullest and not in vain. For 24 hours we are given opportunities to serve others, to be living examples of what it means to live clean lives, and to be the hands and feet of Christ to others. In a given day I might spend a half an hour truly living a clean life and the 23 and a half other hours are spend complaining about how others need to clean up their lives. What kind of light am I shining?

I am encouraged by this scripture to let every hour count! I am encouraged to live with out fear and with happiness. Today I am going to be open for opportunities to shine the light of Christ to others. The thought of living a life in vain just makes me feel sick to my stomach. The thought of living a useless life is enough to encourage me to find areas to be used by Christ.

Today I will be intentional about living out verse 14 to the fullest.... and take advantage of each hour I am given to reflect his love.