“The God of Israel has spoken; The Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light; like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning.” 2 Samuel 23:3,4
I grew up singing the “This Little Light of Mine” song and holding up my little index finger to show that my light wouldn’t be hid under a bushel, or snuffed out by Satan etc… But when Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:14-16 that we are “the light of the world,” He had something much brighter than a little candle in mind.
When the God of the Universe takes up residence through the person of the Holy Spirit in a lowly human soul, they don’t just emit a warm twinkly glow. Philippians 2:12-16 says that when God works in someone both to will and to do, they burst forth with brilliant, burning, blinding light, so radically different from the “crooked and twisted” darkness around them.
What a contrast to that darkness is the one who obeys Christ without grumbling or disputing, who remains blameless and innocent, who holds fast to the word of life! What a contrast is the just ruler of 2 Samuel 23:3,4! What a contrast is the true faster of Isaiah 58, who looses the bonds of wickedness, breaks the yoke, lets the oppressed go free, shares bread with the hungry, brings the homeless into his house, and clothes the naked! What a contrast are the wise in Daniel 12:1-4, and those who turn many to righteousness! And the righteous, themselves, in Matthew 13:24-43.
These are no “little lights.” These are described as “stars in the universe (NIV),” “the morning light,” “the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, ”the breaking dawn, “the noonday light, ”the brightness of the sky,” and “the sun.”
The truth is, if I was the one working in myself both to will and to do, I couldn’t even muster up a candle’s worth of light. But Oh the power of the resurrected Christ! Friend, do you know the power of Christ in you?
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