As I sat down across from Stan, I said, “I’ve got a question.”
“Well,” he replied, “let’s have it. Maybe, just maybe, I will have an answer.”
“The other day,” I replied, “I was reading in the Bible about what Jesus said about being the light of the world.”
“Him or you?” Stan asked.
“Me,” I said. “In Matthew’s account, Jesus said that I am the light of the world, and I’m wondering about that?”
“What are you wondering?”
“If Jesus said that I am the light of the world, does that happen automatically?”
“Do you automatically become the light of the world by becoming a Christian? I don’t think so,” Stan replied. “And there’s a lot of darkness to back that up!”
“A lot of darkness? How so?”
“Just think,” Stan said, “if it were true that every person who comes to faith is the light of the world, wouldn’t that be enough light to dispel all of the darkness that seems to be so prevalent in the world?”
“I suppose so,” I replied. “But if it doesn’t happen automatically, how could Jesus have said that I am the light of the world?”
“I think Jesus was talking to disciples about discipleship,” Stan replied. “Just like I think a person who becomes a Christian does not automatically become a disciple, a Christian is not automatically the light of the world. Choices are involved.”
“Like making the choice to be light?” I asked.
“That’s what it seems to me,” Stan replied. “It’s kind of like having a lamp with a light bulb; nothing happens until it’s plugged in and turned on. The lamp will sit in the dark for a long time until those two things happen. Just like me.”
“Just like you? How so?”
“I have to be plugged into the Source and turned on to Him,” Stan replied. “Then I can and will be the light of the world. If I’m not, I won’t be.”
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Bible verses to consider:
You are the light of the world. Matthew 5:14.
Again therefore Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:6-7.
Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:3-4.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for creating light and separating it from darkness. Thank you, too, for sending Jesus into the world to be the light and show the world what His light looks like. I confess that too often I am not the light of the world as Jesus said, because I choose darkness over the light. Please forgive that foolish approach to being what Jesus said disciples are to be. And please, Father, help me in following every step of your lead so I am, in fact, the light of the world that makes a difference in dispelling the darkness. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Have you accepted the Light so you have the assurance of spending eternity in God’s presence when your time here is finished? If no, why? If you are a Christian, do you see yourself as automatically being the light of the world? Or do you see being that light as something you have to choose to display? Or, perhaps, something in between? If you sense the need for some change in your life so you are, in fact, what Jesus said, “the light of the world,” how is that change going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 