Have you ever been driving at night and someone shines their high beam lights in your eyes? It totally blinds you until they pass on by and that light is moved out of your eyes. I am sure you have heard the saying ělike a deer caught in the headlights.îWhen a deer is trying to cross the road and a car comes around the corner and its headlights hit him in the face, he is blinded and cannot move.
Sometimes we blind people with our light instead of letting our light shine on the path for them to see which way to go. We cause them to not be able to move because they feel they canít make a move without messing up.
When we bring the Word to people filled with condemnation instead of love, we are blinding them with the light instead of using his Word to give them clear directions on which path to take. We need to have our lights adjusted, so to speak.
ěYour word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path…î (Psalms 119: 105).
ěIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….î (John 1:1).
ěIn Him was life, and the life was the light of men….î (John 1:4).
We do not make our own light. The light comes from the Word of God shed abroad in our hearts. When Jesus left us, God sent us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. His light is in each of us. How we let it shine or not is up to us.
ěNo one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light…î (Luke 11:33).
Jesus did not intend for us to keep the light unto ourselves but to use it to help others to find the truth, the truth being who he is and what he did for us all. The truth being his unearned, undeserved favor, love and grace for us all.
The light was meant to shine for all to see the way.
Jesus never intended for us to walk around with our lights shining up in othersí faces to illuminate their faults or their problems. He wants us to use our light (the love of Jesus) in us to illuminate his love for them. Then their paths will be made bright and easy to follow.
Remember the little song you learned as a child in Sunday School, ěThis little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.î
That is what Jesus told us to do with our light. Let it Shine! Amen! Not Blind!
How do we find out more about this light and how to let it shine?
Stay in the Word!
Neta Monroe lives in Salisbury.