Salt and Light: The Light

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

I went on a missions trip to Los Angeles. We had stayed in Watts for a little over a week serving in all kinds of places. I could write a book about that week and all the things it taught me. One of the things that sticks clearly in my mind is one of the last days were there we were brought up to a mountain top near the Hollywood mountain. It was near sundown, and the mountain overlooked Hollywood, and downtown LA in the distance. It was beautiful -- except for one thing: the smog. As huge of a city as LA is, and as many lights as it has, it was kind of hard to see. So, a city on a hill cannot be hidden, but pollution makes it hard to see. I wondered if the same could be said of my life: "I know God is in there somewhere, but all I can really see is pollution."
Light does some amazing things. It reflects, it reveals, and it radiates. It is the only thing in the universe that is never ending. It also defies the laws of physics, for it bends like it shouldn't.
Jesus calls Himself the light of the world for those reasons, but He also calls us to be the light of the world. He will always be here, always leading with the light, constantly revealing who we really are and how to bend back to Him.
We are to shine with that same light. We are to love without limit, without pollution. We do not put it under a lamp stand.
There are usually two types of believers when it comes to "being the light". The first, which I admit to falling into, is the believer who would rather live by example than share a testimony. My favorite quote in the world is given by Mother Theresa: "Preach the Gospel at every opportunity. And if necessary, use words." I've always believed that just living the Gospel will radiate enough light for people to wonder where it's coming from.
The second is the believer who just wants to share their story. Their the ones you'll find in malls asking you awkward questions about salvation and sharing their story with you. Nothing wrong with that, and I've seen it work here and there. Personally, it creeps even me out and I'm on their team.
I think we're called to do both. I think shining your light, being the light, means you live in the light and you speak of your light. To leave one or the other out is letting the darkness creep in. There's a passage that speaks of this in Scripture. John 3: 9 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
We cling to the dark out of fear of the light. Light exposes and reveals who we are and I don't know about you but for me that's terrifying. I'm a guy who does and thinks some shady stuff. To have that brought into the light? Forget it. My eyes will adjust to the dark. But this is what Jesus calls us to. This is what makes being a follower of Christ so hard. We are called to live completely in the open because Jesus died with His arms wide open. What does His death mean if I hide the things He's done with my life? Even the stuff I'm not proud of, God's working in it.
My challenge this week is to be more willing to be more genuine. God help me.

P.S. this is the alphabet would look like if Q and R were removed. Sorry, couldn't help throwing in Mitch Hedberg. But really, I got the chance to share of my life recently at church. I'll start by sharing it here: http://www.tucsonfriends.org/index.php?p=Media

The volume is extremely low. My dad had to wear headphones and turn it up all the way to hear it.