The Nature of Light

Matthew 5: 15-16

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

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Like everyone else in our nation, my social media feeds, my conversations, my thoughts have been preoccupied with the tragedy of the school shooting in Parkland, FL. The arguments regarding blame, contributing factors, policy changes, system failures, the depravity of mankind, the multi-faceted nature of any kind of solution...they are swirling with seemingly no logical progression or concrete action points. And all that I can think is that we are being human again. 

These events are the logical end-point of a world without hope. A generation without foundation or direction. The solution is actually simple - which in no way indicates easy. The simple solution is that we must bow our natural, human, self-serving will to the One who empowers us to love. To forgive. To be kind. Gentle. Self-controlled. To see others as more important than ourselves. To be humble and meek (which, again, in no way indicates weak). 

The solution is for the Hope of the World to be revealed. His name is Jesus Christ. His Church has got to stop the belligerence against hopeless humanity, demeaning them for their hopelessness and darkness, and begin to BE who we are supposed to BE! Our battle, if you will recall, is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual powers that would increase lies and darkness. Those who are victims - and even those who are willing participants - of and in that darkness deserve the very treatment that Christ gave us: light, life, hope, and reconciliation with God. He DIED for us to be reconciled to the Father...and then He bestowed the mantle of reconciliation on His church. 

Yes, Church of God, it is time to rise up. It is time to go to war. But not against the beloved humanity that the Son came to seek and to save. Against the powers of darkness in this world. Against the spiritual forces of wickedness. We have been given the weapons of our warfare: prayer, the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. We have been clothed in our armor: righteousness, truth, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. 

And toward the ones who are lost without sight or hope and cannot find their way out of the darkness, we are to be the Light that leads them home.

Light is attractive. It does not need to announce itself. It simply shines. No amount of declaration or belligerence is necessary for its effects to occur. It simply shines. And in the shining, it overcomes the darkness. It does not argue that it is preferable to the darkness. It does not loudly decry all of the harmful things that darkness brings. It does not accuse the darkness. It simply shines. In the shining, it exposes the harmful things hidden in the darkness, that they may be cleared away, cleaned up, and avoided. In the shining, it draws the undesirable things to itself where they are burned up in its heat and fall harmless to the ground. In the shining, it warms and guides those who were cold and stumbling, aimless and hopeless in the darkness. 

If Light simply IS what it IS, the darkness loses its power, and its prisoners are freed. 

Do we care enough? Are we willing to bow to the heart of the Father? Will we truly follow our Jesus, take up our cross, and take seriously the call to be the Light of the World? Will we lay down our agendas and take up His? Or will we selfishly, self-righteously, stay in our safe bushel-baskets, hidden away from the dangers in the dark and allow the depressed, defeated, and deluded to be destroyed in the darkness?