The Light in You.

We are Called to be the Light of the World

Read Matthew 5:14-16

Here we see Jesus speaking to His disciples. He is bringing forth to their attention that they as followers of Christ are called to illuminate the world with His Gospel.

It is important to recognize that this light inside of is not our light, but the reflection of the Light of the world, Jesus Christ Himself, that people will see in us.

Let’s look at it like this:

In this case, Jesus is the SUN, we as Christians are the MOON.

If you know anything about the Moon youll know that the moon does not make its own light - IT IS A REFLECTION OF THE SUN.

John 8:12 says,

New Living Translation Chapter 8

12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

Here we read that Jesus is saying, I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”,

Where as, as we read earlier in Matthew we see Jesus saying, “YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”.

How cool is that!

Jesus says, I am the Light, but as my followers I want my light to reflect and shine through you!

It is our job as followers of Christ to live a life that reflects Jesus in everything we do.

When we respond to our parents when they ask us to do something around the house, are we responding in a way that reflects Christ?

When someone treats us poorly, and we responding by giving them back negative words or actions, or are we turning our cheek and responding to these situations like Jesus would?

TO BE THE LIGHT WE NEED TO BE LIKE JESUS

TO SHINE we need to allow ourselves to be aligned with Christ. I cant stress how important it is to spend time with Jesus daily.

We grow closer to people by spending more time to get to know HIM.

DONT LET THINGS OF THE WORLD DIM OUR LIGHT

When we lose sight of Jesus when we lose sight of the importance of spending time in His presence.

Let’s get back to our analogy of the MOON and the SON.

The only time in which the moon is unable to reflect the light of the sun is during an eclipse.

A Lunar Eclipsean is an eclipse in which the moon appears darkened as it passes into the earth's shadow.

So basically, during this time the earth is blocking the reflection of the Sun to the Moon.

How many of us have experienced moments where our lives eperienced a Lunar Eclipse.

We allowed things of this earth to seperate the light that Jesus so badly wants to shed on our lives.

When we become so fixated, so consumed by the things of the world, our lives become darkened because we lose our source of light.

And when we lose our source of light, we lose our reflection of Jesus.

Guys I want you to grasp the importance tonight of keeping that source of light free from hinderence between you and Jesus.

Let’s not allow temporary things of this earth, interfere with the eternity that we can have with Jesus.

At the end of the day, the eclipse can’t last forever. Darkness is temporary, Jesus is forever.

It is up to us individually to decide how long we allow this eclipse to linger.

Jesus is always theres, a whisper away, but theres also free will.

I want to challenge you tonight: HAVE THE WILL TO BE A LIGHT FOR CHRIST.

Let’s take our light and place it on a hilltop for all to see.

Let our good deeds shine so bright that those around us will wonder “WHAT DOES HE or SHE HAVE?” and we can tell them “We have the light of Christ.

In everything we do, do it as Christ would.

In closing, Let’s make an special effort this weekend to LET OUR LIGHT SHINE, to BE THE LIGHT in someones life this weekend.