Shine On
"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 its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
--Matthew 5:14-16
As I type this, it’s kind of a gloomy day outside. Cloudy. A little dark. As always, I have three lights on in the room -- two lamps and an overhead light. It’s really bright, actually -- just as bright as it was last night at 10:30 p.m. If I wanted to, I could even walk for miles in any direction at night without using a flashlight because of all of the lights of the city and stores and neighborhoods. I totally take this for granted, but it wasn’t always this way. In a great, secular history book released last year called At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past, Professor A. Roger Ekirch detailed what a huge deal nighttime was before the widespread use of electric light sources.
When night fell, the darkness took over in a way we just can’t imagine. Without a torch or lantern, someone alone in the dark would be utterly lost and directionless. Dusk served as a warning to get where you were going and stay there. Lots of people died during the Middle Ages, even, just walking home in the absolute total darkness that we almost never experience these days. A simple stumble into a ditch or a pond could be the end of you. Of course, with that kind of perfect cover, crime also escalated. Much easier for a criminal to sneak into your house if you can’t see him coming. It’s no wonder people got spooked and made up wild stories about all the scary stuff that came out at night.
The same would have held true much earlier in Jesus’ day. When he said to the crowd during his Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world,” they would have imagined the enormous contrast between a nighttime house with no lamps -- and one with all the lamps lit so you could see what was going on. A brightly lit house draws people toward it, out of the darkness. Jesus urged those who heard him to answer the call to be God’s light in a dark, dark nighttime world by doing good, drawing people out of the evil darkness and into the light of God’s glory. Why would anyone hide the light in the middle of absolute darkness?
Well, some people like it dark. In fact, we all like it dark sometimes -- and not just for sleeping. Ekrich’s book describes some of the immorality that commonly took place in the “blindness” of nighttime. In another passage, Jesus called Himself the light that had come into the dark world. But men doing wrong things don’t want someone to turn on the lights. They hate the light.
In Ephesians 5, Paul built on the metaphor, describing Christians as “once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” (v. 8)
Yes, we live in a time when visible light is cheap and easy to come by. We don’t fear the darkness as much as we once did. But our world is still a spiritually dark place. People in the dark can’t help but be drawn to the light -- even if they want to hide sometimes. Are you living like a light? Are you lighting up your part of your neighborhood by living like Jesus? Does your light draw people out of the darkness in search of good? It can.
Check out the rest of Ephesians 5 to find out more about how to make your light shine it’s brightest in the darkest places.
--Matthew 5:14-16
As I type this, it’s kind of a gloomy day outside. Cloudy. A little dark. As always, I have three lights on in the room -- two lamps and an overhead light. It’s really bright, actually -- just as bright as it was last night at 10:30 p.m. If I wanted to, I could even walk for miles in any direction at night without using a flashlight because of all of the lights of the city and stores and neighborhoods. I totally take this for granted, but it wasn’t always this way. In a great, secular history book released last year called At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past, Professor A. Roger Ekirch detailed what a huge deal nighttime was before the widespread use of electric light sources.
When night fell, the darkness took over in a way we just can’t imagine. Without a torch or lantern, someone alone in the dark would be utterly lost and directionless. Dusk served as a warning to get where you were going and stay there. Lots of people died during the Middle Ages, even, just walking home in the absolute total darkness that we almost never experience these days. A simple stumble into a ditch or a pond could be the end of you. Of course, with that kind of perfect cover, crime also escalated. Much easier for a criminal to sneak into your house if you can’t see him coming. It’s no wonder people got spooked and made up wild stories about all the scary stuff that came out at night.
The same would have held true much earlier in Jesus’ day. When he said to the crowd during his Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world,” they would have imagined the enormous contrast between a nighttime house with no lamps -- and one with all the lamps lit so you could see what was going on. A brightly lit house draws people toward it, out of the darkness. Jesus urged those who heard him to answer the call to be God’s light in a dark, dark nighttime world by doing good, drawing people out of the evil darkness and into the light of God’s glory. Why would anyone hide the light in the middle of absolute darkness?
Well, some people like it dark. In fact, we all like it dark sometimes -- and not just for sleeping. Ekrich’s book describes some of the immorality that commonly took place in the “blindness” of nighttime. In another passage, Jesus called Himself the light that had come into the dark world. But men doing wrong things don’t want someone to turn on the lights. They hate the light.
In Ephesians 5, Paul built on the metaphor, describing Christians as “once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” (v. 8)
Yes, we live in a time when visible light is cheap and easy to come by. We don’t fear the darkness as much as we once did. But our world is still a spiritually dark place. People in the dark can’t help but be drawn to the light -- even if they want to hide sometimes. Are you living like a light? Are you lighting up your part of your neighborhood by living like Jesus? Does your light draw people out of the darkness in search of good? It can.
Check out the rest of Ephesians 5 to find out more about how to make your light shine it’s brightest in the darkest places.
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