Christian Living
Imagine that it is nightfall and for some reasons, there was a sudden power outage in your neighbourhood. If your entire family was seated in the living and listening to the evening news on your favourite news channel, what will be the possible response from members of your household?
The first person to respond in my home, surprisingly, is my little one. Assuming the automatic emergency lights don’t switch on, she’d immediately reach for the torchlight, candles, lighters, etc. The speed and accuracy with which she sets up an alternative source of light never stops to amaze me. Now that I think of it, she’s the most active member of the house. More than helping fix the light situation, she needs light to move. Darkness restricts her. Like all of us, she has come to rely on the shining light to navigate her way around.
In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus tells his disciples to be useful lights. A useless light is the light that is covered or hid under a basket or bushel.
“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. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16 NKJV
Let’s identify the key players in Matthew 5:14-16;
The world. The light of the world. The lamp on a lampstand. The lamp under a basket.
The world
The world as used in Matthew 5:14, represents the human race, particularly of people who are not followers of Christ. They are in darkness.
What is darkness? Think of being locked up in a dark room, what do you see? Darkness is suggestive of lack of direction, confusion, unproductivity, evil, despair, hopelessness, fear, restrain. Sin propagates easily in darkness.
A dark world is covered in sin. The people of the world need light; direction, guidance, positive influence, hope, meaning.
The light of the world
According to Jesus, the light of the world has a duty to provide the world with direction, guidance, positive influence, hope, However, according to Matthew 5:14-16, this light can be the lamp on the lampstand or a lamp under a basket.
The lamp on the lampstand
The lamp on a lampstand is visible to all, transparent, has integrity, is dependable (people depend on it to see), is trustworthy (people trust its guidance and leadership), provides positive influence. It illuminates, brings hope, encourages living.
The lamp under a basket
The lamp hidden under a basket is dim, unreliable, untrustworthy, useless, irrelevant. The light under the basket safely blends into it’s surroundings (the world) lacking in morals and Christian virtues. It is compromised and lacking in integrity. A light under a basket is no different from darkness. It is ineffective as light.
As a Christian if your best associations are with unbelievers, there is a problem. If your most reliable source of counsel is an unbeliever, there is a problem. If you are falsifying documents, altering figures because that’s what others do to survive in your line of business, there is a problem. If there is nothing that differentiates you from your unbelieving friends, neighbours, colleagues, family, there is a big problem. If you are so loved and celebrated widely by an unbelieving community, something isn’t right…
“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.“
John 15:19 NLT
What kind of light are you? What kind of light would you want to be? In your workplace, school, business, relationships, what kind of light are you? What kind of light do you want to be?
Be the lamp on a lampstand.
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.”
1 John 2:15 NLT.
