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Our House Must Overflow With Light

by Jerry Ousley  
5/18/2018 / Christian Living

            If the way is clear and without obstruction you can typically see the light from a single candle 3.1 miles away.  That is amazing to me.  When I was a pastor nearly every New Year’s Eve we would have a service.  Part of that service was to have everyone gather around the altar at front, pass out a candle to each, then turn of the lights in the building.  I would then light my candle and allow whoever was at the end of the row light their candle from mine and then they would pass the flame from candle to candle until all were lit.  Just by the light of all of those candles combined the room was clearly illuminated and anyone passing by could see the light through the windows.

 

            This is what Jesus was speaking in reference to in Matthew 5:14-15 (not about light coming from a church building but from each of our hearts).  He said, “You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Jesus was talking about letting the light – the truth of the Gospel – spill from within us for the world to see.

 

            The light that comes from within us is not our own light.  Without Christ we have no light.  The light comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit living within us.  The light is of course figurative.  It speaks of a witness of Christ and how He has changed us.  Jesus said just as light pours out of a house so our light must spill forth so that others can witness it.  That comes through our good works.  Now of course good works cannot save any one.  All too often we hear of people who are trying to be good enough for Heaven.  The fact of the matter is that we can’t.  No matter how many good works we may do and how much we may help others, as good and as noble as this is, they will never be good enough to make us worthy of God.  They cannot save us from the eternal death of sin.  But when Christ comes in and indwells us by the presence of the Holy Spirit then our lives are changed.  We no longer do good works in order to be worthy of Heaven for we now know that only Christ can make us worthy of Heaven, but  we do good works as a witness of the change Jesus Christ can make in our lives.  It is an influence to attract others to the light.

 

            We have invented what I call “bug zappers” in order to kill pesky bugs in our yards at night.  The bugs are drawn to the light and when they get too close they are electrocuted.  Well, we aren’t trying to kill people but we are trying to attract them to the light so that they too can die out to sin and be won by and into the light of Christ.

 

            In the passage Jesus compared the light of His presence in us to two things.  First He used the example of a city on a hill.  At night when that city was lit up and because it was situated on the hill its light could be seen for many miles.  It is just like when we are traveling at night.  As we get closer to the town or city we are going to you can see the reflection of the lights burning in that place against the sky from many miles away.  So we are to situate ourselves on a hill in life so that those around us can very obviously see the light of Christ coming from us.  Not for our glory, but as Jesus said, so that we may glorify our Father in Heaven.

 

            The second example was that of lighting a lamp then placing it under a bushel basket.  When we do that we are hiding our light so that others can’t see it.  Many of us feel exposed and somewhat ashamed of the light of the Gospel in our lives and so we become like that lamp hid under the basket.  But Jesus said that we aren’t to hide our light under a basket but put it on a lampstand so that all may see and again, so that our Father in Heaven could be glorified.

 

            We let our light shine in order to win others to Christ, not to show off how good we may think we are.  Let me tell you, when we expose the light inside us for our own glory we risk minimizing our light and repelling others rather than attracting them.  But when we let our light shine so that they may see Christ and not us, then we glorify our Heavenly Father.  Shine your light so that all can see Christ in you, and you can’t help but attract others into the Kingdom.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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