Many years ago I drove a gorgeous, black, 1980-something TransAm. It had all the options, gold ground effects, nice wheels, and T-tops, of course. I loved that car. I looked good driving that car. I did have one problem with it, though. After I had driven it for a while, the headlights started to stick. They would turn on, but they wouldn’t open out of the hood like they were supposed to. I had lights, but no one could see them. I may as well not have had any lights at all.
This Christmas season, I have done a bit more thinking than I normally do about the Christmas season as a whole…the Christmas lights and tree and other decorations, the original reason for our celebrations, the way Christmas has become so commercialized in the last few decades, the way we take for granted that everyone we celebrate with this year will be here to celebrate with us next year. I have thought a lot about the loss of both sets of my grandparents, the loss of a close friend of my boyfriend, the loss of another friend’s father, and the many people I know who are feeling the recent loss of a close relationship. We’ve all heard the old saying, “We don’t know what tomorrow may bring;” but we don’t always take it seriously until it is too late.
In Matthew chapter 5, versus 14 through 16 Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” If you are a forgiven child of God, you have a light in the form of the Holy Spirit living in you. Do you let that light shine so the people around you can see it? Do you, instead, keep it “under the hood” and hidden most of the time? Do the people closest to you know you are a Christian? Do you play it safe in this difficult political climate our nation is in and keep your light private so only you and those closest to you can see it?
We really don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t know if the people around us will be here in another year, month, week, day or even hour. We have been instructed by Jesus to keep our light shining so that those around us can see it and come to know God by seeing His light in us. If your light cannot be clearly seen, take the necessary steps to uncover it and make it shine brightly. Just like I had to have someone work on my car so the lights would open out of the hood and be seen, we should take our hearts to the One who can make sure we are shining like a headlight on the narrow road.
forgiven faith 