On the Road to Jerusalem: Removing the Darkness

“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light."

—Luke 11:33-36

When Jesus comes into our lives, He places His Spirit within us and uses us to display His glory. He is the “light of the world” (John 9:5) and through our faith in Him we also become lights of the world (cf. Matthew 5:14). He sets us as a city on a hill, where our light is to shine before others, “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” —Matthew 5:16.

Jesus taught that the “eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.”—Luke 11:34-35. The “eye” is our overall outlook on life. Whenever we are feeding our eyes with good things, such as God’s word, fellowshipping with God’s people, and spending significant time in prayer and worship, we have a spiritually healthy way of looking at things. Whenever we spend our time feeding our sinful desires, or fail to take in God’s word, or forsake fellowship with God’s people, our eyes will become darkened.

And because we are already cities on a hill, placed by God to display His light, the world sees us. And if we are walking in close fellowship with Him, the brilliance of His light extends further and brighter. Imagine a three-switch bulb that goes from dim, to brighter, and then to brightest. When we are walking closely with Christ, the bulb is at the highest and brightest setting. Our brightness factor greatly depends upon our communion and fellowship with Christ.

But whenever we continually indulge our sinful desires, cultivate sinful habits, and foster that which is antithetical to God’s word and ways, our light is not only darkened, but the bulb is changed. Like a blue light placed in a normal lamp, there is still light, but it has become incredibly darkened. We were created to radiate God, and when we fail to walk closely with Him, our light is not only dimmed, but will turn to darkness.

Is there a secret sin that you are nourishing? Is your light dim? Are you letting the weeds of the world grow in your life? The only answer is confession and repentance. God will forgive even the greatest of sins by pouring out His grace upon us. And then He will use that same grace to train us “to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works”—Titus 2:12-14. Amen.