“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is 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 gives light unto 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.”
In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” In Matthew 5:14, He said, “You are the light of the world.” It is not either-or but both-and. We are the light of the world because Jesus is the light of the world. When Jesus comes into our lives we should shine His light for the world to see. We become Christ’s “lamps” to shed His light on the world. (This is why the title of this article is “You Are a Lamp.”) If we are going to function as Christ’s lamps, we must pay attention to the following facts: The first thing to be considered is that a lamp must be lighted. (The best word is “lit,” but I, a Baptist preacher am not going to tell people to get lit. lol) As alluded to earlier, a lamp has nothing in itself to shine. It must have a light-giving substance. Therefore, if we would function as Christ’s lamps, we must get our spiritual light from Christ. We must consciously seek His light and make an effort to share that light. The second thing to be considered is that a lamp must be fed with an illuminating substance. In Bible days, lamps were lit by oil. Many of us remember kerosene lamps. Today we light our lamps with electricity. Whatever kind of lamp we are thinking about, it must be fed. When you unplug an electric lamp, it will not shine because it is not being fed the essential electricity. If we are going to shine as Christ’s lamps, we must keep the lamp fed. How? We need to spend time each day in prayer and Bible reading. Both of these are necessary if we are going to function as Christ’s lamps. When we unplug ourselves from these sources, we do not give light. Another element here is fellowship with Christians. As “iron sharpens irons,” so we must sharpen each other. We do not have churches to just get together a few times a week; we have churches in order for us to shine together for Jesus seven days a week. I know that our solitary fellowship with Christ during the week is of ultimate importance in this matter, but our church fellowship each week should get us ready to go out into the everyday world to shine for Jesus. Most people can’t see us shine at church, because they are not there. They need to see us shining during the week. We should ask ourselves before we say or do anything when we are at work, at school, or wherever we are, if what we say or do will shine for Christ. The third thing to be considered is that a lamp must be clean. The old kerosene lamp used to get soot all over the chimney. When that happened, the light from it was dimmed. If we are going to be Christ’s lamps, we must not let them get smudged with the “soot” of sin. You might be thinking, “I don’t have any bad sins.” All sin is bad. Envy will smudge our lamps. Gossip will smudge our lamps. Hatred will smudge our lamps. False pride will smudge our lamps. I could go and on with this list, but I reiterate, all sin smudges our lamps. We must be careful that Satan does not convince us that, yes, we sin, but we are “good sinners.” For us to be effective lamps for Christ, we must keep our lives clean. Believe me, the world picks up on our “smudged chimneys.” None of us will do this perfectly, but we must be keenly aware of what we say and do. Keep these points in mind, and “let your light shine before men......." Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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