Be The Light!

Last week was VBS – Illumination Station! We spent an entire week learning about Jesus: the light of the world! Now that VBS is complete, decorations have been taken down, and families have gone home, what’s next? We could pat each other on the back and say, “Good job!”  But perhaps there is something more.

Our key verse for the week was John 8:12 “Jesus spoke to them again: I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” As followers of Jesus, we have the light of Christ within us. What is next for us is to walk in that light.

Matthew 5:14-16 reads “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden…let your light shine before all men…”  Matthew challenges us that as carriers of the light, we are to shine that light before ALL men! This means that wherever we go, whatever we do, we are to be a representative of Jesus, speaking and demonstrating His grace and love in our words and actions. I know that is not an easy task. However, as people of the light, we have the Holy Spirit within us and we CAN do it!

1 John 2:9e-10 says, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light.” As Jay would say, “If you can’t say Amen, you’d better say ouch.” This one is hard, but clearly tells us that with Jesus inside us, we are to love our brothers. Loving our brothers includes those who rub us the wrong way, who have hurt us, or who just generally get on our nerves. It means speaking kindly about them and to them; giving them second chances. Again, this is not an easy task. But as people of the light, we are called to do this and we CAN do it! When unbelievers see us loving our brothers, even those who are hard, they recognize the difference in us; they see the LIGHT in us!

As we put VBS in our rearview mirror, I want to challenge each of us to not merely remember it fondly and then set it aside. Rather, let’s be changed by the Light of the World. When we give ourselves fully to Jesus Christ, we can declare just as in 1 John 1:5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare it to you: God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all.” Go be the light!