Key Scripture Matthew 5:14-16 

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify YOUR FATHER which is in heaven. 

Relevance 

Jesus, who absorbed the light from His Father and walked in that light all His life, made this very positive comment above to us.  

Regarding light, most households have at least one torch in a junk drawer or cabinet. Some smart people even have candles. When needed, that is, when the lights go out, torches and candles work together as a team. We head for the torch first to check the fuses. If the darkness is beyond our ability to fix, we then locate the candles and light some of them to get as much illumination as possible.  

Our key scripture tells us that we are to illuminate our surroundings by what we have inside of us, just as a candle does to a room or as a well-lit city on a prominent hill does to its surrounding countryside.  

When torches intermittently cut out, or candles blow out or flicker, or city lights falter on and off, anyone can see there is a problem. Vehicle headlights are the same. Once they go dim or blink, we know there is an issue with the battery, wiring, or alternator. When this happens in the dark, we immediately stop due to safety concerns.  

However, as Christians, we hardly notice when our spiritual lights begin to flicker—it's harder to figure out and shows the importance of fellowship and honesty. 

Darkness needs light, and we are the light of the world, which is a vital ministry. Put that way, we can see the need to eliminate anything that causes an intermittent spiritual life. If the sun kept flickering like a half-blown globe, we'd all be on our knees, asking God to fix it quickly. We need to be that quick to fix our own faults. 

We're not called to simply influence our world but to influence it for light.

1 John 1:5 says of our Father in Heaven (Our Father). This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God IS light, and in him is NO DARKNESS AT ALL.

As our Father, we have His DNA through the blood of Jesus. Therefore, we should have no darkness either. This is why 1 John 1:6 says IF WE SAY that we have fellowship with him, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME WALKING IN DARKNESS, we lie, and do not tell the truth. 

Jesus shows further down in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) how we are to live a life like HIM, not hypocritically.

It speaks of how to clean our hearts of filth, how to be brave and bold, how to be at peace and win over difficult people, including our enemies, how to live a peaceful life at home, work and other places, how to remove pride and bias, how to give and forgive, how to strip ourselves of lusts, how to lead others with a Christlike heart and not have any controversies with our Father in Heaven, AND how to shine in such a way that others can see the dramatic and wonderful changes Christ has made in our lives and desire the same themselves.

In fact, if Christians did nothing else but follow and implement those three chapters for, say, the next two years, their entire lives would be transformed far beyond anything they could have imagined. By doing that, they would shine brighter than many of the most ardent churchgoers.

Why?

These are all matters of the heart. There is no outward glory. Once we stop seeking outward light and concentrate on making our inner self purer and sweeter, we create a heart that is truly a throneroom for our Lord. He will then take charge of the light.  

James 1:17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the FATHER OF LIGHTS, with whom is no variableness, neither SHADOW OF TURNING.   

If we do what he asks, we can't help shining our light. We become an illuminating witness to the lost, and like light, we don't focus on our own glory but reflect the glory of Jesus Christ. 

Then, our light will be impossible to hide—and you can forget the torch. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, what blessed light we receive from you through your beloved Son. Thank you for that glorious gift.  

Photo by Kevin Finneran