Light • Devotion 5

Go and Glow
Sierra Combs

The year is 2022, and whether you like the admit it or not, the world is in utter chaos. People are fearful and hopeless. They are sad and they are angry. Corruption abounds and the truth is attacked. Wrong is right and right is wrong. Sin is celebrated. Every day I see women basically foaming at the mouth to protect “her right” to murder her unborn child. Parents hate their kids and kids hate their parents. Children are being sexually trafficked in mass on a global scale, and America is one of the worst culprits. Gender, one of the most basic scientific facts of life, is now a free for all and those who call it out or question are labeled the villain. Kids, even those under 10, are committing suicide at alarming rates. We are living in the midst of great darkness, and just when it seems like it could not get any darker, somehow it always does. It is terrible to think of these things, I know. It is easier to hide under the rock of purposeful ignorance and only choose to look at the joy in our small circle around us. I am so guilty of this. Looking at the world outside of my little bubble is oftentimes unbearable. However, is that where Jesus wants His followers to be?

In the book of Matthew chapter 5, Jesus is speaking to His disciples. Though the world looked much different at this time, it was still a sinful and chaotic, hopeless place, which is exactly what Jesus came to remedy. He reminds His followers that though they lived among great darkness, they had the answer! They had the hope and the light of Jesus. He says, “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” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Growing up in a valley of Southern California, I was completely surrounded by mountains. My bedroom overlooked a giant hill (I call it a hill but a Michigander would probably call it a mountain) with a house on top. The house was huge but because the hill was so large, it did not seem like it. In the daylight, you did not really notice the house because it blended into the hill, but at night it came alive with light! In the darkness, you could not see the hill but you could see the illuminating lights from the single house. If I would drive a bit out of town, I would drive through the mountains where there are miles and miles of nothing. However, eventually, you would turn around a bend, and there it was, a city on the mountaintop that was so bright, you could see it from miles and miles away.

This is what the Church should be. We should be so bright as we reflect the light of Jesus in our lives, that people can spot us from miles away. When we truly live for Christ, we will glow. It should be unmistakable! Yet how often do we try to hide? Perhaps you would rather blend in with the world, not wanting to stand out and reflect Christ out of fear or embarrassment. Maybe you would rather be quiet than speak the truth, or maybe you are actively letting sin dim the light. Perhaps like me, you would rather happily focus on the light by passing it on to your already lit community rather than taking it out into a world that needs Jesus. Whatever the reason, do not excuse it away in disobedience.

The world is a dark and dying place and we have the answer. Jesus, the Son of God, left His glory in Heaven to bring salvation to the lost. He alone can light the path to reconciliation with the Father, and if you are a child of God you have that light living inside of you. Go out and tell others about Him. Proclaim the Gospel of Jesus everywhere you go. Weave it into your conversations and every aspect of the way you live your life. Go and glow! “Hide it under a bushel, No! Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!”