“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.” Matthew 5:14-16 NCV
Light: Phos-to shine or make manifest
Shine: Lampō-radiate brilliancy; give light, shine
When I was praying about what to share with you all for this New Year God began speaking to me about the light within us. He gave me a vision of a light switch (the ones with the dimmer on it). You operate this light by turning the switch to either a low position in which it produces a very small amount of light, or you can turn it all the way up and it will produce a very bright light. In these times we live in, within the body, many Christians have turned their light to the lowest setting, almost too where their light is not even distinguishable. Sure they are good people, they are nice and they give, but they also do things the world is doing and they end up just blending in with the crowd. You couldn’t decipher them from another “good person” that is of the world. Believers have started to live in a gray area where values, and behaviors have been compromised in the name of freedom. Some people have gone from breaking out of the bonds of “religion” to this perceived total freedom in which they can do whatever they want, but as long as they tithe, read the word, give, pray, go to church, and profess Christ then they are ok. I’m here to tell you that God is saying it is this mindset that is dimming the light within us. There is a song by Jonathan McReynolds that talks about this…
No Gray
Chorus:
If it’s God we’re after
We’ve gotta pick one master
And before something happens
We better turn it all around
Because we can’t just have our cake and eat it to
Because it’s real easy to stay on the fence and still do you
It would be cool if we could love the Lord and still go do our thing
But it doesn’t work like that
It’s gotta be white or black
No gray
No shades of gray
No no no no no
It don’t work like that It’s gotta be white or black
If we live in that gray area then we are not radiating light as we should. In the above scripture Jesus talks about how you would not hide a light under a bowl, but when we live in that gray area that is exactly what we are doing. It is time to find the balance God desires us to have. We do not want to be bound by “religion”, but we cannot allow ourselves to go over to the other extreme and in essence bind others by our “freedom”. When we live in that manner, people of the world look at us as being just like them. In turn they don’t want what we have because they don’t see the value in it or in us for that matter. Luke 11:35 in the NKJV says…
“Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.”
We have to be careful as believers that we do not extinguish the light within us. Let us begin to evaluate our lives in 2011. Are there things we are doing or thinking that make us blend in with those of the world? Do we have habits or mindsets that could cause our brothers or sisters to stumble? Remember we are in the world (to reach the world), but not of the world. We are to be set apart, we are to be different. So people of God let your light shine this year and for years to come, turn up that dial so that all people can see the light and be drawn into the Kingdom of God.
Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org
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