At first glance these words of the Lord seem to be a contradiction. First He says, "I am the light of the world" and then He says, "You are the light of the world." How can both be true? It is quite simple. On a sunny day we look up at the sky and say, "The sun is the light of the world." Then in the evening after the sun goes down we look at the moon and say, "The moon is the light of the world." There is no contradiction in those statements. The sun is the light of the world but the moon becomes the light of the world at night because the sun shines upon the moon.

In the same way we, as believers, become the light of the world when we reflect Jesus Christ. He is the source of our light. And what a power source He is! The closer we are to Him, the brighter the light.

An important fact about light is that it is superior to darkness. Darkness is defined as absence of light. If you carry a light into a dark room, the darkness has to flee. All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of one little candle, and the stronger the light, the weaker the darkness.

Robert Louis Stevenson, as a toddler, one evening saw a lamplighter going down the street. He called out to his mother, "There’s a man out there and he’s punching holes in the darkness."

There is an oppressive darkness creeping across our land today. There is a battle going on for the very souls of boys and girls and men and women through the medium of music, television and the Internet. It is a battle you and I must fight. As believers we possess the superior force of spiritual Light. Life cannot defeat us. Death cannot hurt us. Satan cannot claim us. We have chosen the winning side in the battle for the Heart, and in the end, we will triumph together with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Tragically, however, many believers have allowed an eclipse to diminish or diffuse their lights. An eclipse occurs when a part of the world comes between the moon and the sun. Perhaps over your sky tonight there is an eclipse. The world has cast its shadow, and you are no longer shining as the Lord intended you to do when He said, "You are the light of the world."

Henry Drummond said, "The greatest proof of the Christian religion is a Christian." We judge a civilization by the sort of people the civilization produces. We judge a school or college by the type of character the school of college turns out. We judge a god by the sort of life that god can produce. And the world, to some extent, judges Jesus Christ by the kind of lives you and I live. It has been said that every Christian is writing a gospel, chapter by chapter day by day. What is the gospel according to you and to me? What kind of chapter did we write this past week? What sort of chapter are we going to write tomorrow? Remember, we are the light of the world. We are to let our lights so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

The story is told of a blind man who one night was seen walking down a back alley carrying a lantern in his hand. Someone asked him, "Why do you carry that light? It doesn’t do you any good."

"Oh, yes it does," he replied. "It keeps other people from stumbling over me."

I wonder how many men and women, boys and girls, are stumbling into a lost eternity because we fail to let our lights shine.

A light that is placed into a sealed, non-translucent container, will have no impact upon the darkness outside that container.

God has commanded us to shine and to shine brightly.

Orel Hershiser, famed Dodger’s pitcher, in the March-April, 2002 issue of Moody Monthly, told about an experience he had last October as he was flying from Orlando to Dallas on a business trip. It was soon after the terrorist attacks on America and there was incredible tension on the plane.

Suddenly a flight attendant tapped him on the shoulder and apologized for interrupting him and handed him a note. She said, "This is something you need to read right away."

Orel smiled and thanked her. She smiled back, turned, and walked away. The note was very short — only two sentences. Orel said he read it, then folded his newspaper and breathed a prayer of gratitude. He said, "The note the flight attendant handed me that afternoon, while a fearful world was holding its breath and looking for assurance and hope, was even more gratifying to me than the trophies and awards I have received for playing baseball.

The note read: ‘It’s so nice to have another believer on board. May God’s peace be with you.’ Under that, she signed her name.

Orel said, "No word of congratulations on my prowess on the mound could compare with this. Someone had seen something in my life that was even more important than throwing strikes in pressure situations. Thank you, Lord for giving me a chance to represent You."

"Let your light shine!" That is an order from the throne!

Did you ever stop to think of the fact that everything God ever created obeys His voice? Everything, that is, except man?

When this universe was wrapped in chaos and darkness, God said, "Let there be light." In obedience the sun unveiled its face and the world was lighted.

When Jesus was on earth He looked for fruit on a fig tree and found none. He cursed it and in obedience to His matchless voice it withered and died.

When out on tempest-tossed Galilee His disciples awoke Him and said, "Master, we are in the midst of a storm," in the in power He said, "Wind, cease blowing; water, be still." They said, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!" (Matthew 8:27).

The wind obeys Him. The sea obeys Him. The highest archangel and the tiniest insect on earth obey Him.

Yet we, as mortal men and women, disobey Him. He says, "Let your light shine," and we refuse to let it shine. God help us to obey His voice and punch holes in the darkness.

"Oh, but," you say, "You don’t know where God has put me. It’s such a lowly, obscure place, and no one will ever notice my light."

One day a man went for a walk in the woods. Suddenly he spotted a tiny wildflower blooming in a little cluster of bushes. It was a beautiful thing. The little flower was lifting its perfumed lips for the kiss of the morning.

The man stood there and looked at it. Then he began to talk to it.

"Little flower, did you get lonely last night?"

"No, I never get lonely at night. God keeps the stars awake to watch over me while I sleep."

"Little flower, wouldn’t you like to have some breakfast?"

"I have had my breakfast, thank you," the flower answered. " I draw my sustenance from soil and air."

"But, little flower, you haven’t dried your face."

"I never do that," said the flower. "I wait every morning for God’s sun to dry my face."

"Little flower, what do you do when you get thirsty?"

"O, I just tell God about it and God tells the sun to draw me a drink of water."

"Little flower, what do you do when the sun get hot?"

"Oh, I just tell God I’m too hot, and God sends the winds through the forest to cool my cheeks."

The man thought for a moment, then said, "Little flower, I suppose I’m the only person who ever saw you; but you haven’t bloomed in vain. Out here in this little spot you have talked to me about God."

Folks, never mind where God has put you. Bloom and shine in that corner of your world, regardless of how small or insignificant it is.

The most important light in the home is not the chandelier, as beautiful and brilliant as it is. The most important light in your home is that little hall light or night light which keeps people from stumbling and getting hurt. Maybe you are a little back hall light, or a back porch light. You feel you don’t have much ability or talent, and you complain that God has hidden you away in a little secluded spot. But, dear one, that is where light is so desperately needed.

There is tremendous power in one solitary light, regardless of how tiny it might be. During the blackouts of World War II, the power of a single light was impressed upon everyone. Just the momentary flicker of one match could pinpoint a target for an enemy pilot — or it could give a signal to a lost pilot returning to his ship. A simple light in a window could be a marker for an entire town to be bombed, or it could be a beacon to a man lost in a blizzard. One single light can pierce unbelievable distances and the darker the night, the more clearly it seems to shine.

In this day of unprecedented spiritual darkness we are inclined to forget the unique power of a solitary light. We tend rather to clamor for a galaxy of lights, and I’m not diminishing the power of a multitude of lights. Yet as we look back through the pages of history, beginning with our Lord, we see how one solitary life, one pure steady light can change the world. Every movement that has ever started has begun with the vision and dedication of a single person — one light.

God needs you to be that solitary light in your home and your community as a beacon to those who are lost in darkness. So let your light shine. Give it freely. Whether your life is a tiny candle or has the power of a searchlight, don’t ever let it grow dim or go out. It may be the only light God has in your neighborhood to reach some lost soul.

Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., once told the following story.

Down South after the Civil War there was a widow whose husband had fallen in battle. Her fortune had been swept away. She was cultured and refined but she had never known what it meant to work. She had a little boy. After a while, when starvation was staring her in the face, she went to the field to supervise her own farm. While she worked her little boy played in the hedge.

The little fellow grew up to be about twelve years of age. He said, "Mother, I’ll take over the farm for you. You mustn’t go any more." So the mother stayed at home and the boy took over the fields. He would go to the fields early in the morning and every evening just at twilight he would come home. He would come through a grove, from where he could look through the branches of the trees and see the light in the cottage window. That was the signal that everything was all right at home. After a step or two, the trees would be in the way. He got in the habit, as the days and months and years passed, of stopping there and looking for the light.

One evening, as he was returning home from the field, but looked through the grove only to find that the light was not there. He rushed to the house, struck a match and lighted the lamp on the table. There in the bed was his mother, cold and lifeless. He went over, put his arms around her, reached down and kissed her lips of clay. Near her head he saw an envelope. He opened it and read these words:

"My dear son, I have a feeling that some day you may come home from the field and the light may not be in the window of our home. I have a feeling that some day I may have to move that lamp and place it in heaven’s window. But, my boy, if you do come home some day and the light is not in the window, just remember I will have it in heaven’s window. Walk in that light and meet your mother some day."

Let us go home and put lights in our windows, and let us keep those lights burning ‘til Jesus comes. Let your family, friends and neighbors know that there is light in your life and in your dwelling. And if Jesus tarries and you have to move, death will not dim that light. It is made brighter as it is carried through the valley of the shadow of death, for "the path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18).

So shine!