You Are Light

The Apostle Paul told the Ephesians, “You Are Light In The Lord” (Ephesians 5:8). Our light is generated by the Sun but reflected by the moon. It does not originate with the moon, but the moon spreads the sun’s light. This is what happens to those who are in Christ. You come out of darkness and receive that light that comes from the Son. You begin to reflect Christ in your life to a dark world.

Paul instructs us, “Live as children of light  (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord” (Eph 5:8-10).

Corrie ten Boom, a survivor of Auschwitz, shares an experience where her father’s character shared the light with a customer. It was during hard times when the family was in financial need. A wealthy customer came in and purchased a costly watch. However, as her father was closing the deal, the customer mentioned that he tried to get his old watch repaired by Mr. Ten Boom’s young competitor, but he couldn’t fix the fine old watch. Corrie’s father asked to see it, opened it, made a slight adjustment, and handed it back, saying, “There, that was a tiny mistake. It will be fine now. Contact me if you ever have a problem with one of his watches. Now I shall give you back your money, and you return my watch.” Corrie immediately asked her father how he could turn that purchase down when they were so needy. Her father responded, “Corrie, what do you think that young man would have thought when he heard that one of his customers had gone to Mr. Ten Boom? We must honor the name of the Lord at all times and in all ways. As for the money, we will trust the Lord, Corrie. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He will take care of us.”

If we want to shine for Christ, we must be with him just as Peter and John did.  When they were on trial before the Sanhedrin, they responded in such a way that the Sanhedrin had this reaction: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

A man brought his wife a matchbox that would glow in the dark. After giving it to her she turned out the light, but the matchbox could not be seen. Disappointed, she began looking at it to see if something was wrong. Then the wife noticed some tiny words on the box: “If you want me to shine in the night, keep me in the light.” So it is with us, “If you want to shine in the night, keep in the light of Christ.”