Thursday, August 31, 2023
Inescapable Light
“No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:15 NLT)
When you are living for Jesus Christ, your very presence sometimes will bother others because His light is shining out of you.
You may even try to hide it. But it shouldn’t be that way. Just let His light shine for people to see.
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house” (Matthew 5:14-15 NLT).
We’ve all heard the well-worn excuses and the so-called reasons as to why people don’t come to Christ. But here’s the reason that most people don’t come to Him. This, by the way, is according to Jesus Himself: “God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil” (John 3:19 NLT).
The reason people don’t believe is they don’t want their sin exposed. They don’t want to acknowledge their shortcomings. And the more godly a Christian is, the more obviously this will take place just by that believer’s great example.
Jesus went on to say, “All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants” (verses 20–21 NLT).
Few things are harder to put up with than a good example. And when you live it, it really gets people’s attention.
Light not only exposes what the darkness hides, but light also shows the way out. And in the same way, the light that shines from us not only shows people their shortcomings and their sins, but it also shows them the way out. It shows them the way to Jesus Christ.
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