This is the Day that the Lord has Made

Yesterday, the crowd hummed with chatter and the high-pitched voices of children as family after family strolled through our church’s parking lot.  Costumes ranging from princesses to the grotesque roamed from car to car as the sun lay low in the autumn sky.  Candy in abundance filled up containers ranging from purses to pillow cases, plastic pumpkins to plastic baggies.  People laughed and talked and smiled.  They ate and fellowshipped while worship music—beautiful and wonderful—wove through the vehicles, blanketing the atmosphere with reverence and peace.  This was “Trunk or Treat” 2021. 

Some people might wonder why we do this…provide an event in the midst of the Halloween holiday.  We do this because it is an opportunity to remind people of Jesus Christ, and for some it will be the first glimpse of Him that they have ever had.  During a holiday that is so very dark, we are shining light.  First Baptist Church in Aztec was a beacon yesterday, and the light was bright!  “You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:14a,16    

The kindness and love that poured out from our church members onto others was palpable.  Our heart for the lost people that ventured onto the premises was this: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”  Romans 10:14,15     

And:  “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life…”  2 Corinthians 2:15,16a    We long to be the beautiful feet who bring good news and the sweet smelling aroma of Christ to those around us.  We long to see Aztec, NM, transformed for God’s glory. 

Today is Halloween for many people, but for us, this is the day that the Lord has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).  Let’s be the light of Christ and fragrance of Christ today as we go out.