Thursday, July 8: Let your light shine!

Last Thanksgiving, I went on a camping trip in the red rocks of Utah, stopping at five different national parks. One of those was Bryce Canyon, where the rock formations, called hoodoos, are other-worldly. Another amazing attribute there is that it offers one of the darkest places in the United States with a 7.4 magnitude night sky, which is advantageous for star-gazing. It’s incredible how clear those distant lights become with the absence of light pollution.


When God created the heavens and the earth, “darkness was on the face of the deep,” according to the second verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:2. Yet God created light, and added it to the darkness, separating the two with night and day. Over night, He placed the lesser lights, the moon and the stars, with the sun providing the light of day. Is it any wonder that most crimes are committed in the dark of night? Without being seen, criminals are less apt to be caught, and even the best eyewitness has trouble giving a perfect description from the darkness. Light removes shadows and exposes evil, pointing to God!


15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
Philippians 2:15-16

A May 2004 TIME Magazine article discussed scientific documentation that while the sun is not growing weaker, the earth is getting darker. According to scientists, solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface has declined by as much as 10%. At the same time that the earth is growing physically darker, we as Christians are cognizant of the fact that the earth is growing spiritually darker by the day. While the oppressive nature of Satan’s God-given dominion of the earth may heighten our awareness of the brokenness of the world, it should in the same regard excite us to be lights for the Lord! With increasing darkness, even the smallest lights will shine brightly!


14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16


As Christians, we are not covert spies operating in secret. We don’t need to beat people over the head with the message of God, but when others see the love He has given us, and that same love being given from us to others, they will want to know more about the God we worship! Just as Jesus came as the Light of the world, we are to reflect His light as our lives become mirrors of His. Just as a moth is drawn to a flame, diurnal people (creatures of the daytime as opposed to nocturnal people, those of the night) are drawn to any source of light. Don’t hide your light, but let it shine! And if your mirror is getting dirty, maybe it is time to polish it through repentance and forgiveness!


The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
Isaiah 9:2