Imagine you’re in an airplane flying at 30,000 feet up; it’s night. You have a window seat, and you look out. Far below, the lights of cities twinkle back at the stars in the sky.
You’re 30,000 feet up in the air. That’s over 5 miles. Five miles up in the air, and it’s nighttime.
And you can still see lights below!
Light is powerful. Light is far-reaching. Light is able to cut through darkness and be seen.
And we are called to be lights.
Jesus said:
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.
Matthew 5:14-15 (KJV)
You. Me. We’re lights. Philippians 2:15 says that we are “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (KJV). And we can’t be hidden, unless we hide ourselves, hide our own light. We can give light–show the way, chase away the darkness, etc.–unto all that come near us.
I’m not saying we can do it all on our own, or that it’s by our power that others are made to see. Jesus is the Light; we, as His followers, have Him in us and should share/spread the Light.
Think of it this way. You take a lighter, and you light a candle. And then you light another. And then another. And another. And on and on it goes. You can also take one of those candles and use it to light another candle. But all the flames, all the lights, come from one source–the lighter.
Jesus is the lighter. People are the candles. We are “lit” by Jesus. We might lead someone else to the Lord, help them say a prayer and ask Jesus to be their Savior, encourage them to surrender their hearts and lives to Christ–but we can’t necessarily “light them”; the flame–our flame–is from Jesus, and Jesus is the reason others “get lit.”
And if we’re lights, we’re standing out from the shadows. We’re not blending in with the darkness. We’re different; we’re noticeable.
It might seem that there’s so much darkness, that it’s beginning to close in around us. But that’s all the more reason to shine and to get others to shine!
Light is powerful. Light is far-reaching. Light is able to cut through darkness and be seen.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 (KJV)
