Without Light We Can Not See Clearly

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. "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 5:13-16

Matthew 5:13 tells us that if seasoning has no flavor, it has lost its value. If Christians don’t make an effort to affect the world around them, they are of little value to God. We are worthless if we are too much like the world. Christians should not blend in with everyone else, we need to affect others positively by letting our light shine. If the Holy Spirit lives within us, we want others to see what Christ is like by our words and our actions – by showing our light. We hide our light by going along with the crowd, by being quiet when we should speak and by not explaining our light to others.

In this day, it is most important that we speak openly about being a Christian. In his response to Justice Kennedy’s recent opinion on same sex marriage, Justice Samuel Alito said, “people can whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public, they risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers, and schools.”

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.”        Matthew 5:11

 

Many people today talk about how the Church is “in exile” and “at the margins.” We are being pushed to maintain our beliefs as long as we don’t carry them with us in public. But we have a higher authority in Christ who said, “You are the light of the world.” Our lights can not shine if they are hidden under a bowl. God has not given us a light to be hidden or a spirit of fear. God has given us the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We need not apologize for offering the light of Christ to this dark world. However, we do owe our most profound contrition to God if we do not show our light by sharing the gospel. We must not be timid in this. The secular world takes offense at the gospel, but we must not be intimidated by this world.

Instead of praying for our personal situation to improve, we need to pray for God to help us be the lights he wants us to be.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."      John 8:12