Pentecost 34 Time to Turn the Lights On

[HKHaugan]

Pentecost 34 Time to Turn on the Lights

Matt.5:14 You are the light of the world.

Last Sunday, here in Banner Elk, I heard a great sermon about Jesus healing the blind man. While it was wonderful, faithful and biblically nuanced and really had people saying many amen’s, it was not the content but the effect of the sermon that got me. Another light was turned on and it touched my heart. I love to be taught. I thirst for good teaching not so much for the different points but what it does to turn on and store up light within.

One of the modern inventions that gets my attention is the photovoltaic cell. Now I’m no scientist and I can’t describe the process but that cell is able to draw light from the sun and store it for use when it is dark. A bank of them can light and run the energy needs of a house. The reason I bring this up is that in a way each of us are a bank of photovoltaic cells waiting for the Son to fill us with the energy of the Holy Spirit to light us up so that we can pass the light we have to others blinded by the darkness of the world.

That is the way I sensed what was happening after I heard the sermon last Sunday. It was the effect of the sermon. Another cell was being filled. The Holy Spirit was lighting me up from within. Sermons from the heart by people filled with the Spirit make the words of Scripture come alive. Again, the Lord’s words are what the Spirit uses to enter the heart and energize it to be a light. The Spirit brings the light of the world, Jesus, into the heart. And that light finds its way out through the hearer’s reacting thoughts and words framed because the light moves the heart and inspires the mind to speak what the heart has embraced from the Son.

Some evidences of the light are the internal joy of discovery when a thought emerges because the light sparked a reaction in the heart. Then there may be a ‘change of heart’ in attitude, perhaps a lifting of one’s spirit, a renewed confidence in the Lord enabling us to speak about Him. There is an excitement about being with God’s people in worship and looking to be filled again when the next gathering takes place. You find the need to be positive when dealing with negative people. You want to smile when a waitress brings a meal and maybe encourage her. You see the check out person at the supermarket and do the same. You look for opportunities to share the Lord with someone. You find yourself praying more.

But then also there is that need we all have to be corrected, to grow, to face with acute honesty the strongholds that keep us from being light bearers. The light penetrates the dark areas within and we are convicted, led to tell the Lord we are sorry for what we did and opened to His forgiveness and the change of heart it brings. All of this is what happens when you find Jesus telling you that you are the light of the world carrying Him wherever you go. What a privilege, what a humbling thought, that God would choose us to be His lights, His cells, to be energized to pass Him on.

Matt.5:14-16"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (Message Bible)

More light coming…….stay tuned.