Being Light

“…denunciatory rhetoric is so much easier and cheaper than good works, and proves a popular temptation. Yet is it far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness.” – Rev. William L. Watkinson

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light—

Everything exposed by the light is made visible, for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

-Ephesians 5:8, 13-14

Cursing the darkness is child’s play compared to being light.

The Bible is replete with passages that point out the darkness. And none of that can be simply set aside. In fact that is not at all what I am asking us to consider. We desperately need to have God, in His grace, plainly point out what is wrong and what is right. Without such a divine and consistent standard, our understanding of how we ought to live and behave would be as changeable as the trends in fashion.

What is helpful to keep in mind with such passages (i.e-Ephesians 4:17-19, 5:3-7) though is that they are given primarily to rebuke and warn the saints rather than to call out sinners. Do they expose the sinfulness of those not following Jesus? Of course! But, they are not be used as a glaring search light for sinners as much as they are to be a lighthouse’s warning beam for saints. “Avoid the rocks here! This is a treacherous shore that will not bring safety and comfort!”

One of the problems we encounter in our lives with Christ is, in our genuine desire to see people avoid shipwreck, we curse the darkness rather than being light. I find it much easier to point out the sin in sinners than to be involved in their often messy lives. I can much quicker write the prescription for their problem than enter into their world and do my best to love them. “If they didn’t (put obvious sin/sinful behavior here) they wouldn’t (put harmful affects of sin/sinful behavior here).” Far more complex is consistently living out a different set of priorities and behaviors while being in a person’s life in a way that earns me the right to show them the Light that woke me from the deadly slumber of sin. But this is the evangelistic formula (if there is one) offered in the New Testament. We are to shine like stars as we hold onto God’s truth (Philippians 2:15-16). And light always attracts attention in the darkness.

May God grant you a brighter light, day by day, as you grow in your knowledge and love of His Son, the Light of the World.

For introspection:

Sexual immorality, impurity and greed are pointed out to us as particular sins to avoid. Do any of these have space in your behavior or affections? What will you do to not be caught up in these sins? How will you ensure that you are doing more than behavior modification?

For WEDnesday discussion:

In my interaction with pre-Christians am I more prone to curse the darkness or to be light? What influences you to be light? What encourages you to curse the darkness? How can you grow in being light?

We are commanded to “find out what pleases the Lord” (v10) how should we go about this? What excludes something as ‘pleasing’ to the Lord? (See Hebrews 13:15-16)

Thanksgiving is to be the hallmark of our speech. What are ways to cultivate thanksgiving in your heart so that it flows out of your mouth? What influences pull you toward obscenity, foolish talk and crude jokes? What are effective strategies that you’ve found to limit those influences?