Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Pumpkin Light - #8392

Friday, October 30, 2009

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Well, it's the time of year for America's pumpkins to shine…literally. You’ll see them on porches and in windows all over the country tonight. Of course, a pumpkin can't shine without a little surgery first; actually, a lot of surgery. You’ve got to scoop out all his innards so you can carve a face on the old boy, and then place a candle inside him. And when you do, an otherwise boring old pumpkin suddenly glows with this light inside.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and I guess only I would think of something like this, but I can see how God has used a similar procedure to make me more useful for Him. See, He's brought some hurt, and some humbling into my life that brought me to the end of me. He sort of emptied me of me. The biggest obstacle of how He wants to use me, and in the place where He emptied me, He put a light that could illuminate other people when they've been hurt.

John gave us the equation for spiritual greatness when he said, "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30 ). The increasing subtraction of me…my ego, my agenda, self-serving, and self-promotion, and self-focused, with the increasing addition of Jesus being the One I’m all about.

Paul said the thorn in the flesh that tormented him that God would not take from him had given him an experience of God's grace that could light up many lives, "...so that when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10 ). Which is reason to actually embrace the battles that empty me of me, because that’s God’s tool to light up my life so I can light up someone else's darkness.

This radio program references: John 3:30 ; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10