Shine Like New!

This is a vase that we use as a decoration piece in our home. It is made of a metal called brass. As you can see it is bright, shiny, and very beautiful. That isn't always the case. When brass is exposed to the air, it becomes dirty, dusty, and tarnished. That means that the bright golden color becomes dull and lifeless. See, here is a piece that has become tarnished. It is no longer very pretty to look at. When a piece of brass becomes tarnished, we take some of this cleaner and put it on a clean, soft cloth and then we rub the vase. Soon it will be shining like new.

That same thing can happen in our lives. When Jesus comes into our hearts, his light shines through us and our life is bright and beautiful. But as we live our day to day life, we become exposed to all of the bad things in the world around us and our lives sometimes become tarnished by sin. When that happens, our life no longer shines for Jesus, so we have to ask Jesus to clean us up and make us shine again. The Bible says that when we ask him to, "He will make us shine like the morning sun!" Is your life shining as brightly as it once was, or do you need to ask Jesus to forgive you, polish you up, and make you shine like the morning sun?

Dear Lord, some of us have become tarnished by the sin in the world. This morning we ask you to forgive us and polish us up so that we shine like new.