"Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light to all that are in the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
When I get up in the morning and look in the mirror for the first time, my first thought is not that I am the light of the world. You probably have the same thought. It is difficult to realize that we are the light of the world, except that this is what Jesus called us. Before we get too proud of ourselves, however, we need to read John 8:12: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Putting these two texts together, we can see that we are the light of the world because Jesus is the light of the world. It is not our light that people see, rather, it is the light of Jesus shining through us. Our light is like moonlight. The moon has no luminary qualities, for it's light is relfected sunlight. In the same way, our light is reflected "Sonlight." We are not to boast, "I am the light of the world." We are to remember that because we have Jesus in our lives, we are supposed to be reflecting His light to the world. How can we do that? First, we can live the Christian life. I do not mean that we become religious and speak in stilted "stained glass tones." I mean that we live moral lives that reflect the values of Jesus. We will never do it perfectly as He did, but we can do the best that we can with His help. A lot of Bible study and public and private worship can help to make this possible. Second, we can love people like Jesus did. Jesus said: "This is my commandment, that ye love another, as I have loved you." Jesus also said: "By this shall all (people) know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." We begin by loving each other, then we love all people as Jesus did. Does the world see Christ's love through what goes on in your life and at your church? We really need to think about this, and act on it, if we want to be genuine lights for Christ in this world. Do people see Christ's love through how we act in our daily lives? Third, we can minister to people in the name of Jesus. Ministry is helping people anyway that we can, from a smile to actual acts of service. We encounter all kinds of people in our daily lives. God loves everyone of them. We might find them lonely, suffering from sickness, steeped in the ways of the world, dirty, down and out, up and out, or just plain mean, but they all need the love of Jesus. Jesus died for everyone of them! We can minister the light of Christ to them by loving and helping them as Jesus did. They might not really want your help, but if Christ's light is shining through you, you can get through to them. Finally, in this text Jesus said: "Let your light so shine before (people), that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." They will probably appreciate your efforts, but, ultimately, if what they see is the light of Christ, they will glorify God. If you belong to Jesus, you are the light of the world. Go out there and shine!!!! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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