[learn_press_profile]
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5
Lately I have been struggling to drive at night; it has been very hard to see. I have blamed the rain, the clouds, the poor markings on the road and the lack of streetlights in important places. I have scolded people (from my car, out of earshot of them) for wearing all dark clothes when they are walking the streets at night as if “you are trying to get me to run over you!” Yet lately I have started to admit that it might just be my diminishing eyesight and that I am not far from the point where I join some of you in saying “I just can’t drive at night.”
Thankfully, when I was at a drive through appointment (yes, it was a COVID test) the person serving me (jabbing me with a swab up my nose) said, “You probably know this, but you have a headlight out.” So, on the way home from there, I stopped at an auto parts store and bought two new replacement bulbs for my headlights. I was just going to use one until I realized that the one that was not burnt out was dim and yellow. It didn’t look anything like what the new one looked like. And after a little toothpaste to the foggy light covers (amazing trick), the headlights worked great again.
And to think I was almost running over people, or telling people I wouldn’t drive at night, but there was a simple fix! Let the light shine! We need light to be able to see at night and I just was not getting enough of it to be safe.
Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” He encourages us to let our light shine, to give light to a broken and hurting world. And as the light shines in the darkness, the darkness will not overcome it (John 1:5). In being the light of the world, we are invited to be witnesses for Christ. It is simply living out of the abundant life that Jesus gives, out of the power that God supplies, that allows us to keep sharing light in the world. That is “Benedictive living” – to “speak well” of God with our lives by being a blessing to others.
Too often, many of us get discouraged and feel that our light just is not shining. We aren’t necessarily in danger of literally running someone over when that light doesn’t shine. But maybe we do run people over with our poor attitude or our anger – and that makes it hard to see the light shining in and through us. Sometimes we begin to think that there is something wrong with us. That maybe we have gotten too old, or too set in our ways to shine any kind of light. Sometimes we feel that God has something against us, or can’t use us, or is too distant to make a difference. So, we think we might feel that it is easier to give up on having our light shine.
When we start to feel that way, or we start to doubt how our light is shining there is one thing that we need to do. Fix our light! God has prepared a way for that to happen, and it is called prayer. We turn back to God and allow God to speak to us. We turn to God and let God fill us with grace and goodness. We allow God to root us and ground us in his love – that love that is so high, so wide, so deep! And that really is a simple fix – our light will soon begin to shine.
Don’t get discouraged by the dimness of your light – or even that the church might not be shining as bright as it once did – because there is an easy fix. Take it out from underneath the bushel – the worry, the doubt, the struggles, the sin, the distractions – and let there be light. The only way to get it out from under the bushel is to put yourself in that spot where God can work through prayer! And then, BOOM!, let there be light. And there was.
I have to admit that sometimes even when I am teaching/writing/proclaiming these kinds of things, I start to think that my light just isn’t shining the way it should. Yet, while I was writing this, and struggling some with my own doubts about my light right now, someone who used to go to this church before they moved away, stopped by to see me on a return visit. Without knowing what I was writing about just before he walked in he told me that we, with our love, turned his life around completely. And, get this, he said, “You let your light shine in my life, and now I let my light shine in other people’s lives.” Amazing! The timing of that was even more amazing than the old toothpaste trick. Maybe my light is shining more than i realize. Maybe your light is, too?
All glory to God and to Christ Jesus in the church and throughout the generations. Amen!
