You are the light of the world. A city set
on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the
peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the
house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16
People are watching you! What do they see? What
they see has an influence on them. And it should. You see, Jesus told us that
we would have an influence in this world, yet so many of us Christians are no
different than the world. We all need the light of Jesus in our lives to flood
the darkness of sin, fear, insecurity, and more and to reflect His light to the
rest of the world.
It is a Visible Light
A lamp was lit to be used. It is crazy
to presume that men would light lamps to hide their effectiveness. The only reason a lamp would be hidden would
be to preserve it from loss or waste.
But in such a position it would not be performing its functional
duty. Light is meant to be placed in the
area where light is needed.
Light will light whatever it shines
on. The inside of the bushel is still
lighted. The light is not put out
because it is under the bushel. Our
light is not lost when hidden, merely limited in its influence. There are many different things in everyone’s
life that could serve as a “bushel”.
What is in your life that is causing you to hide your light for Christ
rather than reflect it? The shining of our "light" is Christian
example. We can only cover our lives by
failing to be the example that Christ has made us. When we fail to express our Christian faith
by standing against sin and the darkness it brings, we are "busheling our
bulb".
It is a Revealing Light
Light displays whatever is
present. It reveals truth. That is why
Jesus said in John 3:19 that men hate the light. Sin in our life can only remain as long as we
accept the lie that it will bring or is bringing peace, happiness or possibly
fulfillment to us. Light does not create darkness, it dispels it. Light does
not just reveal evil and sin, but good, honesty, beauty and wisdom. Darkness in
our lives is the picture of the life without the light of Christ. For wherever the light comes in there can be
no more darkness. The more light that is allowed into our lives, the better we
see the things of darkness that have ensnared us.
Sometimes we discover that it is
the things that we have found so precious that are creating the greatest
occasion of defeat. Revealing light creates the problem of whether or not we
will "clean up" the exposed dirt.
We don't like those kinds of decisions.
The Christian who walks reflecting the light of Christ will find that
persons do not really like to have him around because he is constantly
revealing the dirt in the dark spots that the rest of the world does not
reveal.
The life of a Christian is not
cold-hearted and austere in its discipline, but warm in its loving
example. Even though we may expose the
truth when we shed the light, we should not do so in a judgmental or condemning
manor. This is not the way Jesus would
want us to represent Him. There should
always be an attractiveness to the Christian life that entices others to live
it. This is not only in the everyday affairs of life, but in the special works
that we perform out of His goodness and light in us.
Scripture to Claim:
This
is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5
