“If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

— Mark 4:23

Someone gifted me a very large flashlight, and I thought, “What a perfect thing to put in our guest room, just in case.” My mom often comes to stay the night, and she uses that room. If she needs to get up in the dark, a big flashlight can be more helpful than a small nightlight.

One day, when I was cleaning that room, I picked up the flashlight and turned on the switch. But no light came on. Checking further, I found there were no batteries in the flashlight. It really would not have helped my mom or another guest that way.

I wonder if sometimes we are like that too. We want to be a light for the world, but our batteries are dead or missing, or we haven’t plugged in our lamp. In this parable Jesus points out that we don’t bring a lamp into a room in order to cover it up. The lamp is there to brighten the room and to show us things that we need to pay attention to.

Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher in his day, once said, “The Bible is not the light of the world; it is the light of the church. But the world does not read the Bible; the world reads Christians! You are the light of the world.”

Today, let your light shine. No more hiding. Be the lamp that illuminates Jesus to the world.

Thank you, Jesus, that you ask us to be your light. Please help us to shine the truth of your love and grace to the world you have called us to brighten up. Amen.