TUESDAY May 23rd
Matthew 5:14-16
‘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.’
One more visit to these verses. When we lived in Rhyl, I used to have some of my photography (this is one of my hobby’s) in local galleries and one of my best selling photographs was of a lighthouse which I took with the sun setting behind it, the lighthouse was a few miles from where we lived and one of my favourites places to visit. Although it made for a good photo opportunity, the lighthouse itself was redundant. It no longer has a light in its lamp room, it is of no use to the ships that regularly sail in the area.
Originally this lighthouse would have been vital to the shipping that used to come into the estuary warning of the dangers that were around and helping the ship’s captain to steer the ship safely to the port or dock to which it was heading.
Can I suggest that as the light or the lights of the world we are vital to those who are seeking to navigate through life, to those who do not have the same hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, to those who are struggling not only with sin but the addictions that come out of it, to those who are not knowing which way to turn every morning when they wake up, we are to shine in such a way that they can be helped, led to a place of safety, to THE place of safety and be able to anchor their souls just as we have done in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It may be that the lamp in our lives is not shining as bright a light as it should be, it may even be going out because we are too busy filling our lives with temporal things rather than allowing the lamp to be trimmed everyday as we have communion with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. Maybe you are reading this devotion and realise that actually the lamp has gone out, the things of earth have filled your life so much that the things of God have been either put to one side or even may have been thrown out.
In the words of the song, turn your eyes again upon Jesus, the One who is the true light and who came to bring light into this world, allow him to come and fan into flame the dying embers in your heart so that you, so that we together may be the light he is calling us to be today in this dark world.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of his glory and grace.