In His prayer prior to going to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus mentioned His will for His followers: "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one" (John 17:15).

In other words, we are to be shielded from evil, but as part of the world, not apart from it. Jesus also said: "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world" (verse 18).

It is not Jesus' desire that we become spiritual hermits. Are we to be protected from Satan? Yes! But we are not to remove ourselves from our surroundings. We have a job to do for Christ, and that necessitates our being in the world.

The challenge is to live a Christian life in the world and not be of the world.

There are those who are quite pious toward God but do not have much consideration for their neighbor. But God expects us to love Him and our neighbor.

The apostle Paul tells us: "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10). Do we realize what this verse tells us? As we are able, we should be willing to help anyone. We see emphasis placed on helping those of our faith, but it was never Paul's intent to have us limit our willingness to help to those of our faith.

James give us a clear definition of proper Godly service: "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27).

Burying our noses in the Bible every day at home doesn't serve our neighbor. Being unspotted from the world and avoiding contact with the world places our light under a basket. We are not glorifying Christ if our works are hidden (Matthew 5:16).

Let's let our light shine in an increasingly dark world.

With these thoughts I wish everyone a rewarding Sabbath!