Light Your World!

A few years back, we were having one of those spring thunderstorms that rattles the windows of your house and makes your walls feel like they are about to come down. You know the ones where the thunder crashes and the lightening strikes and the dogs and cats go running under the couch or the bed. I remember we went to bed, tucked our son in and turned off all the lights. But at about 2 am, we lost electricity at our home. We discovered at that moment that there is a major difference between turning off the lights and being in the dark. Without the electricity, there was no night lights, no digital readouts on the alarm clocks, no flashing lights on the answering machine. . . it was completely dark. And then to top it off, my son lets out a blood curdling scream that to this day, just thinking about it, makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYY -- it's dark in here." "No kidding, you're supposed to be asleep." But of course as every dad would do in that situation, after discovering that the flashlights are all just dead battery cases, I struck a match, lit a candle and like a knight on a white horse, I strode into my son's bedroom and with one solitary flame, I fought off the evil darkness. But of course 10 minutes later the light came back on and I was no longer needed --- all you parents out there can appreciate that.

Isn't it amazing at how bright one solitary flame can be in the midst of the darkness? Our world is filled with darkness right now. Moral failure by leaders - darkness. Economic collapse - darkness. Constant threat of terrorist attack - darkness. Divorce rate at an all time high - darkness. Stress and fear driving people to heart attacks and suicide - darkness. And yet we know from scripture that Jesus prophesied that all these things must come before He would return -- "As it was in the days of Noah. . ." and "As it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah . . . so shall it be. . ." when the Son of Man returns. And so we it sit at a time of unprecedented darkness AND YET we sit at a time of unprecedented opportunity. Because Jesus also said that we "are the light of the world." When it's at its darkest, the light is most effective. You may feel insignificant. You may feel that it's too dark to matter. But when it's darkest, your little candle, your little light, can force back the darkness and bring hope to our world.

And so today - my simple encouragement is this - Go light your world. Yes, I know it's dark. There are people everywhere with greater needs than ever before. It's up to you and eye to bring hope to the hopeless, the bring healing to the hurting, to bring help to the helpless, to bring liberty to those who are bound, and yes to bring light to those who are in the dark. The darkness is EVERYWHERE --- and we who know Jesus Christ, need to step out into the darkness and bring the light.

There's an old Sunday School song - maybe you know it. It says, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." One verse says, "Hide it under a bushel - OH NO - I'm gonna let it shine." Another says, "Won't let Satan blow it out - I'm gonna let it shine." One thing I know - it only takes a small spark to begin a great blaze. Why don't we make up our mind to let our light shine, to not hide it, and if we'll do our part to shine in the darkness, Satan or nobody else will be able to ever put out the blaze that will have begun. It's time to SHINE!

Until next time - make a difference in your world by letting your simple light to shine. You don't have to do anything supernatural - you just need to be who God created you to be and His love and His light will shine through! God bless you all - thank for reading. I'm ready to fight off the darkness - How about you? --- RP