Jesus is calling…

You are the light of the world. A town built 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 others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:13-16 NIV)

Jesus tells his disciples that they are the “light of the world.” He uses this metaphor of being “light” because light was extremely important in the biblical culture where there were few sources of illumination and it was dark everywhere after the sun would go down below the horizon. To expound what he means by saying that his disciples are “light,” Jesus gives two illustrations. First, he says that a town on a hill cannot be hidden, and secondly, that people do not put a lamp under a bowl (basket).

In the first illustration, a town that is built on a hill is in plain sight to anyone in the surrounding area and cannot be removed or hidden. Next, in the ancient culture, people would light a candle or lamp at night in their homes to give them light, since houses typically consisted of one large room. However, the person who lit the lamp would not horde the light all to themselves, but rather would place the light on a stand, enabling it to be shared among everyone else in the house.

Light was not something that Jesus’ disciples intrinsically possessed. They were “light” because of their commitment to follow Jesus. The Apostle John describes Jesus by saying, “the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9). A person cannot make themselves the light of the world. Being the light of the world is something that you become when you accept and choose to believe in Jesus Christ. We become light because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

When we follow and obey Jesus Christ, we can begin to understand the “light” that he gives us and how we too are the “light.” Not because we ourselves have “light,” but because Jesus reveals and illuminates our hearts with the knowledge of God’s glory and God infuses the light of Jesus Christ into our hearts as God’s children and followers of Christ to the point that as we seek him and obey him, that light will shine forth from us so powerfully that it will influence and affect the world. But not everyone will endure the light that shines forth from us for as Jesus warned his disciples, “everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” (John 3:20).

But even if some will oppose the light that shines from within us, we are not to cover up our light under a basket and keep it hidden from sight. Rather, Jesus says, “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” By being in relationship with Jesus—who is the light—we too become that light as we follow after him, for Jesus also 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).

We must always keep our focus on following Jesus and trusting that God will reveal the light of our Savior in us more and more each day. The darkness will not tolerate the light for the light reveals the wickedness of the Enemy. Thus, we must be all the more confident that we are walking in the light and shining the power of Christ into the darkness of this world.

~JW


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