«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» (Matthew 5:14,15).
WHAT DOES GOD MEAN when He says that you and I are the light of the world? Basically, that no matter how dense the darkness around us may be, we must shine for His glory. The apostle John tells us why it should be this way: Because the «light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it» (John 1:5, NLT).
This reality is very well illustrated by an experience that Charles Colson had years ago when visiting the Indiana State prison, in the United States. He says that having spoken to a large group of inmates in the prison hall, he was taken to the section of the prison were murderers on death row were housed. Great was his surprise when he saw that these criminals who were condemned to death as enemies of society, were out of their cells, in the company of others who were unarmed, including a young Christian woman who had come there to sing to them.
When Colson and those accompanying him were preparing to leave, they saw that a member of their group was in one of the cells, praying with a prisoner. Upon his return, he explained why he had stopped at that cell.
«I am Judge Clement—the judge who sentenced this man to die. I seldom say a man so hostile and insensitive as that fellow during his trial. Then he was in a direct way my enemy, for I represented society, which demanded his life. Today, though, he is a newborn person; he is my brother, and we feel as close as members of the same family. All that because some Christians cared and came and witnessed.
In other words, they shone for the glory of God! What does it mean, then, to be the light of the world? As Ellen G. White puts it, it means that «as the sun goes forth on its errand of love, dispelling the shades of night…so the followers of Christ are to go forth on their mission, diffusing the light of heaven upon those who are in the darkness of error and sin.»—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, ch. 2, p. 38.
It means, as today’s text points out, that we need to «remove» our lamp from under the basket and put it high up on a candlestick, so that with the glory of Jesus Christ, it can illuminate not only those who are in the house, but also the neighborhood and the whole world!
Dear Jesus, today I want to shine for You, but I want to shine in a way that focuses on You, for only You are worthy of all honor and glory, today and forever. Amen.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Colaboradores: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate
