Most all who know Christ will quickly acknowledge that the mission we have been given by Christ is that we be the “light of the world”. It is one thing indeed to acknowledge that mission is another to understand the depth of what that is.
Recently Charlotte and I have been looking at foreclosed houses. These houses are in disarray. One of the most glaring deficiencies is the lack of light due to broken fixtures and missing light bulbs. It really is impossible to assess the condition of these houses without light! Correspondingly the lost of this world are unable to assess their own state apart from light.
It is my observation that, for the most part, we believe that this mission of “light” is fulfilled in our proclamation of the Word. However, as I study the Scriptures it appears to me that the real source of this light is the life of the believer. Notice the following verse from 2 Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
The world’s lack of respect for and fear of God may well find its cause in a lack of light. Light is this context is something that emanates from the lives of sanctified followers of Jesus Christ. Consider the following verse in this context:
2 Corinthians 4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
Believers have a wonderful and necessary mission that cannot be fulfilled apart from holy and sanctified lives.
