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A traveling man brought his wife a little souvenir – a phosphorescent match box which was supposed to glow in the dark.  When he turned out the light to demonstrate its use, there was not even the faintest glow.  Disgustedly, he concluded that he had been cheated.  The next day his wife examined the gift more closely, and found an inscription in tiny letters, “If you want me to shine in the night, keep me in the sunlight through the day.”  She did as directed; and that night after dinner it was a pleasant surprise for her husband when she turned out the light and the match box shone with a brilliant glow.  Thus only can believers “shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” (Phil. 2:15).

Sermons Preached Without Notes, Charles Koller, page 94