Shining Brightly

DEVOTION
PROVERBS
SHINING BRIGHTLY
Prov 13:9
9 The light of the righteous shines brightly,
but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
NIV
If this is not a saying from God about the eternal result of a person’s choice, I don’t know what is. Because I have chosen to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior I am in the ranks of the righteous. I surely cannot be one of the righteous because of my great ability to be righteous, but only because God declares me so. My light, my being, my essence of who I am will shine brightly for all eternity. I my will never end. The very fabric of who I am will always be as bright as I am now, in fact even brighter as I will be illuminated by the light shining from the throne of God within the new city of Jerusalem. I believe my light shine now because of the illumination of God in my life. I cannot believe anyone who does not know God has any illumination at all, for all they have is the wisdom of this world which is foolishness to my God. But in the sense of this saying I would have to say this light and lamp are the life forces or the spirits within each person and mine will shine bright forever as I am in the light of God. Those who reject Gods light will ultimately have their life force, their lamp snuffed out. They end will be to perish, to cease to have any lamp, any life at all within them. They will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur and their lamp will shine no more. I cannot agree with those who claim hell is eternal, or that snuffed out means not in the presence of God, for no one can ever hide from the presence of God, even those who are in hell now waiting final judgment. They just as the rich man who could talk to Lazarus who was in the bosom of Abraham across the chasm, those in hell can see those in heaven and those in heaven can see those in hell. God is ever present. But at the final day their lamps, their lives will be snuffed out, and mine will be glorified into an even brighter light. How much clearer can this delineation be between the righteous and the wicked? Praise God I will shine brightly. But I still believe I have the call to be a brightly shining light in the life I now am living.