![]() I have spoken on the subject about being the light several times in different blogs. Today, the Lord moved on me again to talk about the light. He asked me, “Where am I putting the light of Jesus at?” This question comes from Mark 4:21 “And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?” Today, we see so many things happening around us and none of it really shows the light of Jesus except on special occasions. What we do see strongly taking place is the light of darkness and it is growing heavier as time goes by. This shouldn’t be happening. I am sorry to tell you, but Jesus could never be about the light of darkness. He only talked about the darkness so we wouldn’t fall into darkness. Jesus was all about the light of hope, peace, and love which means a complete transformation in your life. How do we know Jesus is the light? We can find that this is true by just going back to John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” What we do see is the world today only wants to pull out the candle or our lantern when we just really feel like it. Notice Jesus asked us a question from Mark 4:21, “Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed?” Now, why would Jesus ask us such a question? Jesus came to change the world, not to condemn it. John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” We will find out we’re to do the same thing. So, why don’t we see more of the light of Jesus today? The truth is we have seen or trained ourselves that it’s okay to mix darkness with light. Here’s a fact from the bible Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” This scripture puts it best that we can’t mix darkness with light. We have to understand this from an analogy point of view. God represents light and mammon represents darkness. Now, this is a time when we really can say opposites don’t attract. Why did I pull this scripture out? This falls right into James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Now go back and consider what Mark 4:21 could be telling us. In a different format, Jesus is saying are you going to put your light where it can’t be seen or are you going to place it where everybody can see it. This can also give a great illustration of a double minded man. The point I am trying to make is we simply cannot mix darkness with the light of Jesus and expect anyone to follow after Jesus when they see such a mix. I want to make something clear. This isn’t about making those simple mistakes from time to time. This is about knowing the truth and walking away from those truths. Remember, I always will say this “It may not be easy, but the more you walk in the light of the truth the easier it will get.” Let’s look more into Jesus’ light and what his light provided. This isn’t a mystery, but you would never catch Jesus not showing the light, or hiding the love of his Father. Jesus was the light sent to bring the good tiding so that everyone would come to him, to be blessed, and turn from their wicked ways. This 100 percent means Jesus showed everybody the light of goodness and again he didn’t hide any of that light from anybody. We also need to remember that the father sent him and Jesus was full of his Father’s love. Yes, Jesus was anointed to be that light and example unto the entire world. Hebrews 1:5-9 “5) For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6) And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7) And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 8) But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 9) Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” So how do we bring our candle or lantern unto the world? The answer is when we begin to follow after his example and not our own. Jesus’ light was even seen through discipline and correction to help us change our ways. Stop and think about the word repent. Repent was to change our ways, right? This was also meant to correct us from walking in sin, or to help us step out of darkness and back into the light. So, we could be blessed. That’s what Matthew 4:17 is trying to tell us “From that time Jesus began to preach, and say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now what should we be doing to set the example?Most of us should remember this passage when it was the time of Jesus’ birth and that’s when the shepherds saw the angels out in the fields that night. Luke 2:15-16 “15) And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16) And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” Notice verse sixteen where it said that the shepherds made haste to go find Jesus. How could haste apply to us today? That same kind of haste the shepherds did to find Jesus should be expressed in making certain that our light glows so brightly that the image of Jesus will appear through us and it will draw all men to come to Jesus in a hurry as well. I want to add this scripture in because it’s important. John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Now, why would I bring this up? Notice the words “behold his glory”. Stop and think about it for a few seconds. This should resemble putting that candle on the candlestick or light up that lantern and let the light of Jesus or his glory be shown unto the world through us. Notice it’s not just a light, but a light that contains grace and truth. This type of light is so bright that the glory of our Lord is illuminating through you. Do you get the picture? We can’t just put the light of Jesus under our hat or hold it inside of us like holding our breath. God had given us a breath of life didn’t he? I do believe that’s what he did and we can see it from Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” God said to me this is what we’re supposed to do is breathe his word into others or speak of his word to others. I do recall a scripture that tells us to do so. Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” This should tell us as long as we can breathe we should be sharing the light of Jesus unto everyone we can reach especially in these days. It should be done with haste or more quickly than ever. No, this may not be easy at times especially during rough circumstances. So, we may not always have the words we need to know at the moment, but our expressions of Jesus’ love should shine through to let them know we really care and all we can do is simply minister the best we can from that point. So, how can we express that love when we don’t know what to say? Just simply try to get them to pray with you over their circumstances for starters. Believe me; this light will shine better than we think. So, the best gift we can give for someone this Christmas is the light of the Word and that word is the one that should point someone to Jesus. Don’t forget since the day of Jesus’ birth the light of Jesus has been shining along. It was never hidden from us. We just took our eyes off of it and right now is the time to turn back to the true light.
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Jason HolstineMy heart's desire is to see that you walk in the purity of God's word and to strengthen it into your life, so that you're able to see all of God's promises blessing you richly as you advance in his word. CategoriesArchives
April 2024
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