Tag Archives: light

Be Light in Darkness, March 23, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I don’t think many people around the world could have imagined what our behavior looks like today. This novel coronavirus changed us in so many ways. We can’t help but hear the news from another country or state or city that declares war against the virus by shutting down schools, stopping events where crowds gather, closing business.

We don’t know yet when the panic will stop, and calmer heads will inject themselves to stop the runs on every food and cleaning commodity in stores. In these first days, we certainly demonstrated how unchristian and selfish we are as a culture. When people suddenly hoard to ensure they have enough for themselves at the expense of others, something is wrong.

I find it interesting that any day of the week, our grocery stores are filled with food, and warehouses supply them routinely without a problem. But a little snow, a little ice, and now the pandemic and some decide no one else should have the benefit of our bounty in this country. What has happened to us?

The Garden of Eden happened. Selfishness happened. A long history of “what’s in it for me” has happened. Those mindsets will destroy us in these days if we don’t turn them around.

The next weeks and months will not be pleasant. As we saw with China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, and other countries, the virus will spread, and the number of ill and dead will rise dramatically. Once started on this scale, the genie is out of the box, so to speak. The only way to stop the spread is for everyone to stay in their home until the virus dies. We won’t do that. We will come out to at least go to the hospital, buy food, police the streets, fight fires, and do other things that force us to leave our homes and interact with others. When we do, the virus spreads. It’s the nature of pandemics. It gets too widespread in a community to stop it without extreme measures that I’m not sure Americans will stomach.

So what do we do? I read an article a few days ago that said in pandemics, Christians lose. Why? Because we live under the principle of love that Jesus taught us. It caused the Christians in the Middle Ages to go to the plague victims and care for them instead of fleeing from them. It causes Christians to run to the homeless and orphans to help in their needs instead of pushing them to the side. And the love inside us means Christians will sacrifice for the hurting and dying in these times, too.

Paul sums up the difference in his letter to the church in Ephesus with these words:

For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light- for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. (Ephesians 5:8-14a NIV)

So what are we to do as we watch the shelves empty, the media raise the panic level, the misinformation spread through social media, and all those around us crouching in fear? We remember Jesus saved us to be light in the world. Now is our time to shine for him. We can be his hands and feet when those around us need to see his love in action as never before. We can remember that God still sits on the throne, and none of what happens now shakes him or moves him from his place. He is still God and cares for us.

Can I explain why he allows these things? No. Can I understand why good people suffer through a scourge as we might experience over the next weeks and months? No. But I trust the God I serve, who has carried me through good and bad times before. He has never let me down, and whatever happens in the future, I know he will be beside us. He promised never to leave us or forsake us. He will give us peace, even in the middle of the crisis we currently face.

We have an opportunity to be God’s light to the world. Shame on us if we let it pass us by or be part of the problem with dark acts of selfishness when we know the suffering of others who stand beside us. Make it a point to check on your friends and neighbors. Be a helper and not a hindrance during these problem times. It will not get better in a week or a month. Be ready to show Jesus wherever you are so that others will see you are a Christian not by what you say, but by your love.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Let Him Shine, January 27, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Last night the lights went out. It was dark. I mean dark. I went to the front of the house to see if the whole neighborhood lost electricity or just us. By the time I reached the hall, I had realized it was a bad idea. I headed back to retrieve a flashlight from the nightstand before I stumbled over a chair or table or something left in a spot I didn’t expect. I couldn’t see anything with cloud cover and the darkness.

It made me wonder about people living before electric lights. Just two hundred years ago, candlelight would have been the extent of the illumination to lead me through my house last night. Have you ever traveled through a house by candlelight? It’s not much. Certainly, more than pure darkness, but not much.

Candles produce about thirteen lumens, less than a two and a half-watt small Christmas tree bulb. Can you imagine living with no more light than that? Picture yourself as the woman looking for the lost coin with just a candle. Or think of the fear of huddling in the darkness during one of those famous Texas thunderstorms with only your oil lamp to provide some relief from the dark and the howling wind that threaten to overtake you.

Our kids don’t know much about physical darkness today. Few have seen the beauty of the Milky Way with their eyes. Light pollution from most of our cities keeps us from observing that band of stars that populate our galaxy and stretches across the sky. The lights from towns mask the brilliance of the stars except on oceans or deserts. We don’t know darkness, so we don’t appreciate the light.

Now that you’ve given a little thought to life without electric lights. Now that you’ve spent a moment putting yourself back a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand years into the past looking into the darkness of the night that surrounds you wondering about the predators that might be lurking in the shadows. I’d like you to listen to the words Isaiah wrote concerning the coming savior of the world.

They come from the book by his name from chapter 9.

But there will be no more gloom for those who knew such hardship. In times past, God humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali; later, He will restore the honor and glory to the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee, home of the nations.

The people who had been living in darkness

have seen a great light.

The light of life has shined on those who dwelt.

in the shadowy darkness of death.

And You, God, will make it happen. You bolstered the nation,

making it great again. You have saturated it with joy.

Everyone in it is full of delight in Your presence,

like the joy they experience at the harvest,

like the thrill of dividing up the spoils of war.

For as You did back in the day when Midian oppressed us,

You will shatter the yoke that burdens them,

You will lift the load that weighs them down,

You will break the rod of their oppressor.

About whom is Isaiah talking? The God-Man, Jesus. He sheds light on the darkness of our hearts. He opens our minds to what God intends us to be. He makes a way for us to enter into the presence of a holy God when we know we do not deserve to be there. Jesus, God wrapped in human flesh to show us how much he cares for us. He came to pay the price for our disobedience. He died for you and me so that we might live.

From an earthly point of view, he grew up in the most unlikely place, Galilee, and in one of the most unlikely villages in that region, Nazareth. No one would have thought the King of all kings would come from a place like that. He knew what it meant to grow up on the “other side of the tracks” in poverty and crime-ridden neighborhoods. Nathaniel understood Nazareth when he commented, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

But something did. Someone did. Jesus. The one who brings light to a dark world. His light is not that lumen candle the people of his day used to illuminate their darkened houses in a storm, but John described his glorified body in his Revelations as brighter than the sun. You can’t look at the sun for more than a few seconds without some serious pain; the light is so intense. That’s the light Jesus brings to our hearts.

The end of the first month of 2020 approaches fast. We’ve talked about the coming of God into our world and how we should listen to him, seek him, share him. We should also let him illuminate our lives in such a way that he can shine through us so that others see him in us. We should reflect his light in all we do. Today is a good day to start, don’t you think?

Stay in the light (John 12:35-36), March 19, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Have you ever been in absolute, total darkness. It’s hard to find those spots today, but when you do, they can be pretty scary.
Scripture
1. John 12:35-36
2. Jesus: Light is among you, but very soon it will flicker out. Walk as you have the light, and then the darkness will not surround you. Those who walk in darkness don’t know where they are going. While the light is with you, believe in the light; and you will be reborn as sons and daughters of the light.
Devotional
1. Growing up in central Tennessee or central Kentucky, you know about Mammoth Cave. It’s named after the discovery of the Mammoth skeleton found in its caverns deep under the earth.
  1. System goes on for miles
  2. Popular tourist attraction
  3. Beautiful natural sculptures from millennia of stalactite and stalagmite formation
  4. Evolution of insects, fish and frogs without sight
  5. Every tour stops deep underground to demonstrate real darkness
  6. All lights extinguished for a few moments with no light anywhere
  7. Shocked by the total absence of light
2. Few places you can go without some light visible
  1. Light pollution from cities makes night training difficult for military
  2. Observatories find it more difficult to search the stars for the same reason
  3. Use to be able to point out many more constellations and clearly see the Milky Way
  4. Light floods our skies 24 hours a day because of the man-made devices we employ
  5. We despise darkness
3. Darkness means
  1. Can’t navigate
  2. Can’t avoid hidden danger
  3. Can’t distinguish friend or foe visually – sense we rely on the most
  4. Fear
4. Many live in spiritual darkness and don’t know how to escape it
  1. Swallowed in fear
  2. Know there is danger, but don’t know how to avoid it
  3. Sense the evil in the darkness but run headlong into it because there is no way to recognize the right path in the darkness
  4. Need light to show the way
5. Jesus says He is the light
  1. He lights our way
  2. He says when we believe in Him, His spirit will live in us and we become sons and daughters of the light, His light will shine in and through us to light the path before us
  3. Might not see the whole journey,
  4. Might only be the next step
  5. But will never be in darkness if Jesus is living in you
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The light that shines through the cosmos (John 8:12), February 18, 2017

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
In the 1950s and 60s, just about every boy I knew thought of being an astronaut at one time or anothers. We were in a space race with the Soviet Union and rushed to land a man on the moon. Everyone around me dreamed of being that person.
Scripture
1. John 8:12
2. Jesus: I am the light that shines through the cosmos; if you walk with Me, you will thrive in the nourishing light that gives life and will not know darkness.
Devotional
1. As one of my electives as an undergraduate I took astronomy. I got interested in astronomy in Junior High during the height of the space race and our race to the moon. Space and the complexity of the universe fascinated me. I think a great many young men of that time dreamed of screaming away on the back of a Saturn rocket and visiting the stars.
  1. Astronomy class tried to take away some of the wonder
  2. Explained universe and just happenstance of gravity wells pulling on matter and causing the reactions in the stars and formation of planets
  3. Left God out of the equation
  4. Never explained how the Big Bang might have occurred in the first place or who created the dense material from which the Big Bang sprang
2. Still awed by the universe
  1. Distances are mind-boggling
  2. 32 billion light years to the farthest known galaxy (eight minutes and twenty seconds for light to reach us from the sun, 5.3 hours to reach Pluto)
  3. Billions of galaxies in the known universe
  4. Each galaxy made of millions or billions of stars
  5. Many of those stars have planets
  6. We are only beginning to discover the real scope of the universe over the last 200 years
3. Think about Jesus 2,000 years ago describing Himself as the light of the cosmos
  1. Pierces through the darkness
  2. Created all the universe in all its vastness
  3. Brings life and sustains it
  4. Set in motion all the rules that lets us exist on this tiny world
4. That Man, the God/Man, invites us to walk with Him
  1. We will thrive in the nourishing light that gives life
  2. We will not know darkness the thing that brings fear to men
  3. All we have to do is believe in Him for forgiveness and walk in His ways
  4. He will be beside us all the way
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Is your light malfunctioning? (Luke 11:33-36) November 8, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Chronicles 33-36

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 11:33-36
Jesus: You need a light to see. Only an idiot would light a lamp and then put it beneath the floor or under a bucket. No, any intelligent person would put the lamp on a table so everyone who comes in the house can see. Listen, your eye, your outlook, the way you see is your lamp. If your way of seeing is functioning well, then your whole life will be enlightened. But if your way of seeing is darkened, then your life will be a dark, dark place. So be careful, people, because your light may be malfunctioning. If your outlook is good, then your whole life will be bright, with no shadowy corners, as when a radiant lamp brightens your home.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Solomon talks about the plight of the elderly in Ecclesiastes 12 this way: And so we come to the end of this musing over life. My advice to you is to remember your Creator, God, while you are young: before life gets hard and the injustice of old age comes upon you—before the years arrive when pleasure feels far out of reach— before the sun and light and the moon and stars fade to darkness and before cloud-covered skies return after the rain. Remember Him before the arms and legs of the keeper of the house begin to tremble—before the strong grow uneasy and bent over with age—before toothless gums aren’t able to chew food and eyes grow dim. Remember Him before the doors are shut in the streets and hearing fails and everyday sounds fade away—before the slightest sound of a bird’s chirp awakens the sleeping but the song itself has fallen silent.

But today ophthalmologists and audiologists are doing some things to turn back the years in some ways. In a couple of days I get my new hearing aids and I hope to be able to hear those doors on the streets open again and hear the sounds of laughter again and the bird’s chirp like I haven’t heard them in years. The noises in the Army have a tendency to decrease hearing in some frequencies sometimes and age doesn’t help the problem any. So I’m looking forward to seeing what audiology and modern science can do.

Ophthalmologists can now replace those cloudy lens that sit behind the iris. The disease we call it is cataracts that cause those lens to just get more and more milky until you just can’t see through the lens anymore. But now, we can replace those lens. When the patient leaves the doctor’s office, not only is the lens replaced, but now vision is corrected at the same time by shaping the cornea and suddenly the cloudy vision is not just unclouded, but crystal clear.

It’s as if a miracle happens. Those who go through that cataract surgery and have their vision restored understand something of what Jesus talks about when He talks about the way we see. Many go about their daily chores almost blind until that day the surgeon releases them from their bondage and lets the light pour into their lives so they can see again. They can once again experience the world the way God made it, bright and clear and full of light instead of dim and dull and dark because of the lens that has distorted their view.

It’s a shame we can’t figure out spiritual maladies the way we do physical maladies. Satan has clouded our vision so we walk through this world with cataracts if we let him. But Jesus wants to be that ophthalmologist that performs the needed surgery on our eyes so we can see clearly once more. He wants to remove those diseased lens so we can see the way God meant the world to be, not the way we have perverted it through our sinful ways. He can correct our vision so we can see the way we should, we can see through His eyes of love and recognize those who need the same vision correction He gives us. Then we can introduce them to the physician who can help their spiritual vision, too.

Walking around blindly today is dangerous. There are too many pitfalls and dangers to just strike out without sight. Even the physically blind today go through months of training or use support animals to help them through the perpetual night. But the spiritually blind, talk about dangerous. Our eternal destiny is at stake. Satan tries to make us believe that God is too kind to let any of us go to hell. He’s going to save us all, Satan tells us. God is love, after all, right?

But it’s one of Satan’s lies. You see, God doesn’t send us to hell. We send ourselves there. God is love. He made a way of escape for us, but we must take it. The means of salvation is there, but it is still our choice. Ted Bundy’s mother loved him, but it didn’t keep him from choosing to become a serial killer. We make our own choices. I choose to spend eternity with God or with Satan. It is my choice. I choose to let Jesus open my eyes to His light and follow Him. How about you?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Nothing is hidden (Luke 8:16-18) October 17, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Deuteronomy 1-3

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 8:16-18
Jesus: You wouldn’t light a lamp and cover it with a clay pot. You’re not going to hide it under your bed. No, when you light it, you’re going to put it out in the open so your guests can feel welcome and see where they’re going.
Hidden things will always come out into the open. Secret things will come to light and be exposed. I hope you’re still listening. And I hope you’re listening carefully. If you get what I’m saying, you’ll get more. If you miss My meaning, even the understanding you think you have will be taken from you.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus’ words remind me of just how powerful and important light is to us. I remember a time when I was in ROTC in college, a buddy and I were on a scouting mission together. We got just a little off track and thought we would get out of the woods and onto some more familiar territory by using a railroad track that bisected the area that enclosed the training area we were supposed to occupy. When we got to the track we decided we would head toward a red signal light we saw in the distance.

Because it was a dark night with no moon, heavy cloud cover, and a light rain falling, we had trouble making out any of the land formations around us. That’s what got us a little disoriented in the first place and caused us to lose our pace count and direction. So when we saw the light in the distance we figured we would be safe and on track once more. We headed that direction.

We didn’t realize then just how far you can see a railroad signal light in the dark. We were accustomed to seeing flashlights and car headlights in the dark. You can see a flashlight a few hundred yards and headlights a mile or so in the weather we were experiencing. But a signal for the railroad? Two hours later at a fairly brisk jog, we seemed no closer to that light than when we started. By then, we knew we were well out of the boundaries of the training area we were supposed to stay in. In fact, we might have even left the installation at that point, but really didn’t know without any landmarks to guide us.

After another hour of moving toward that light, we finally arrived and spent the rest of the night next to that railroad signal. We found out just how bright and how tall those things are. We also felt a lot more secure knowing we would be able to pinpoint our location once the sun came up using that signal along and the terrain around us. We could make it back to our camp from there. We blew the mission. We were embarrassed. But that light helped us make it home. We were happy to have it at 1:30 that morning 45 years ago. I’m so thankful that light was burning and not hidden from view.

Light does that for us. It dispels the darkness and gives us comfort on the darkest nights. It gives us hope and encouragement when it seems there is otherwise none to be had. Light is something we seek and it draws us when we find ourselves in darkness. It pulls us toward it because light tries to bring out the detail we want to see around us. Light comforts us.

But it also reminds us of the second part of the words we’re considering today. “Hidden things will always come out into the open.”

How often have you groped around in the dark for something and then with the flick of a switch, you turn on the light and there the item is right in front of you. I do it all the time. Unfortunately, I’m one of those that need a CPAP or BiPAP when I sleep at night because I have a tendency to stop breathing periodically. But I often put the contraption on in the dark since it’s really easy to operate and I’ve been using it for over ten years. The problem is that it does have a few parts that fit together and if one of those parts happen to slip off, many times I can’t find it in the dark no matter how hard I try. But as soon as I turn the lamp on the nightstand on, I can instantly see that part that lies just beyond my pitiful attempts to find it without that light. Light brings out the hidden things.

The same is true of our lives. Just look at the vitriol that pours out during this political campaign. Look at the candidates’ hidden lives that are coming out in the media on both sides of the aisle. Those evils each have committed are being flashed through the news, twitter, Facebook, and every other electronic media available. Little about their lives over their entire lifetime is being hidden from public view. Even all those alleged sexual assaults from the Republican candidate and the email trail that is shows the selling of favors to our enemies on the part of our Democratic candidate while Secretary of State. Nothing is hidden.

But think of what the final judgment will be like. Not even our thoughts will be hidden on that day. God will expose every act and every thought for the whole world to see. The only question after that display is whether all those acts of disobedience have been forgiven through your repentant prayer. How about it?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Where will you meet Him? (Mark 14:48-49) September 14, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – -Psalms 108-110

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 14:48-49
Jesus: Am I a thief or a bandit that you have to come armed with swords and clubs to capture Me? I sat teaching in the temple every day with you. You could have taken Me at any time, but you never did. Let the Scriptures be fulfilled.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus talks a lot about light and darkness in His messages. He talks about Himself as the light of the world in fact. He says God’s children live in the light. He tells us that Satan’s minions slither around in the dark, but that those true to God stay in the light. They are not afraid to have their actions seen by all. They do not worry about being seen by others because they know their actions are good, honest, righteous. They have nothing to worry about in terms of the rightness of their behavior.

Not so those who do their work in the dark. Those who hide their behavior, most often do so because they don’t want others to see it. And they don’t want others to see it because they know it is wrong. They try to cover their behavior with darkness. It seems the dark brings out the worst in people for some reason.

It’s why I gave my kids a curfew. Even when they were older teens. Even when they came home from college. I live by a simple rule and taught them the same rule. “Nothing good happens after midnight.” So even as twenty-something college kids, the rule was be home before midnight. Period. There is little reason for anyone to be out after midnight unless you must work one of those jobs that require those kinds of shifts.

But to be out partying, driving around, even just talking with friends, nothing good happens after midnight. Think about it. After midnight, when you’re tired, your resistance lowers. Your emotions get keyed up. More fights happen after midnight. More people lose control over their drinking and drug habits. More people lose control over their sexual drive. Bad things happen after midnight. So the kids had a midnight curfew.

Am I too strict? Am I an old fuddy-duddy that doesn’t understand the way of the world? Am I just old fashioned and behind the times? Maybe, but I don’t think so. I prefer to think I’ve learned a little about this thing called light and dark. I want to be able to operate in the light and let anyone see anything I might do without hesitation. I want my life to be an open book to others. There shouldn’t be anything I’m ashamed of in my life if I’m following Jesus. But when we sneak off in the night to try to cover our behavior, we’re just not acting like our Lord.

I think that’s the message He’s giving the priests and their guards in the garden that night. He has been praying and now they come after midnight to arrest Him. They come when most people are in their beds asleep. They want to make sure their actions are unobserved. They don’t want the populace to see what’s going on because they’ll be found out. And Jesus was too popular with the people to risk taking Him in front of them. So they capture Jesus in the middle of the night. Under the cover of darkness. When no one can see their actions.

But there is a problem with their plan. Light dispels darkness. Light isn’t the absence of darkness, but rather darkness is the absence of light. Have you ever thought about that? Just the tiniest spark of light dispels the dark. And Jesus is so much more than a spark. He is the light of creation. He is brighter than the noonday sun. He illuminates our every action. He uncovers our heart. Nothing stays hidden when He is around. So when the guards come in the middle of the night, their purpose is clear to Him. The wickedness in their heart is clear to Him. Their fall from God’s law is crystal clear to Him. He sees it all, because His light shines on them and they cannot hide.

Neither can we. We can attempt to cover our actions by participating in behaviors under the cover of darkness or behind closed doors or in places we think are secret, but they are not so secret. God knows everything. He knows our actions. He knows our thoughts. He knows our heart. He sees us in the light and in the dark. And what we think we hide from Him, He still sees. There is no where to hide. His light shines through the darkest places in our lives to show us where we stand in relation to Him.

So He poses the question to us that He posed to those who met Him in the garden. We can come to Him in the temple and the synagogues and the market places and meet Him in the daylight or we can be like those guards and try to sneak in to overtake Him in the garden. Only one problem with trying to overtake Him. As John describes the scene, when they tried to take Him, the guard fell to the ground. He cannot be taken, He gave Himself up to them. He gives Himself up to us too. Will you meet Him in the light or in the dark? It’s your choice.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Will you be that candle? (Mark 4:30-32) (July 21, 2016)

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 11-12

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 4:30-32
Jesus: What else is the kingdom of God like? What earthly thing can we compare it to? The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, the tiniest seed you can sow. But after that seed is planted, it grows into the largest plant in the garden, a plant so big that birds can build their nests in the shade of its branches.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Wikipedia tells us the candela is the International Standard base unit of luminous intensity; that is, luminous power per unit solid angle emitted by a point light source in a particular direction. Luminous intensity is analogous to radiant intensity, but instead of simply adding up the contributions of every wavelength of light in the source’s spectrum, the contribution of each wavelength is weighted by the standard luminosity function (a model of the sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths). A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela. If emission in some directions is blocked by an opaque barrier, the emission would still be approximately one candela in the directions that are not obscured.

Like most other International Standard base units, the candela has an operational definition—it is defined by a description of a physical process that will produce one candela of luminous intensity. Since the 16th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1979, the candela has been defined as:

The luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540×10(12) hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1⁄683 watt per steradian.

The definition describes how to produce a light source that (by definition) emits one candela. Such a source could then be used to calibrate instruments designed to measure luminous intensity.

The candela is sometimes still called by the old name candle, such as in foot-candle and the modern definition of candlepower.

So why bring up the definition of the candela? Well, we don’t know much about mustard seeds like they did in Jesus’ day. But probably most of us have participated in a service or memorial or some event like the following.

The crowd is given an unlit candle as they come into the auditorium and asked to just hold it until they are told what to do with it later in the program or service. At the right time, maybe at an invitation or a commitment service, a call to missions, a light the world theme or some such event, the speaker has all the lights in the auditorium not just dimmed but extinguished. The auditorium goes black.

As the speaker continues, one candle is lit. It’s a small thing, barely visible from the cheap seats in the balcony at the far end away from the podium, but it is visible. That one candle gives out about one candela of radiant lux, about 12 1/2 lumens if you want to measure the luminous lux. That’s it. Not much to try and conquer the darkness that engulfed the auditorium just a few minutes earlier.

Then the speaker does something you probably expected by this point. That one candle touches the candle of a person nearby, then those two lit candles touch two more, then those four touch four more, and so it goes until every candle that each person holds has that same small flame burning in the hand of its holder. Suddenly, the auditorium is no longer dark, but instead is bathed in hundreds, maybe thousands of candela as each lighted candle adds 12 1/2 more lumens to the auditorium.

In just a few minutes, that one candle, barely visible from the back of the room, becomes the single flame that fans the flame of every candle in every hand that fills the whole room with light. The darkness has been dispelled, but it started with just that one candle.

That’s how God’s word spreads, too. Like the mustard seed that grows into a bush the size of a tree where birds build their nests or like that single candle used to light others that finally engulf the whole room with light, when we share God’s mercy and grace and love with those around us, something happens. His spirit works to spread that fire not only in us, but into those with whom we share. His spirit is always at work. He leads us to people who are ready to hear His word if we will listen to His guiding voice and share when He tells us to. He knows when the time is perfect.

Will we see the results of our labor? Maybe, maybe not. It’s not our responsibility to save people from their sins. We can’t do that. We can’t even win them to the kingdom. Not within our power. But what we can do is tell others what He has done and is doing in our lives. We can act as His witnesses and tell them about Jesus and the good news of His kingdom right here for those willing to give themselves to Him. God does all the rest.

You might feel like one candle in the darkness sometimes. But remember that single candle begins to lighten the whole room. That event or service or memorial you remember with all those candles lit and providing light in that auditorium started with one candle touching another. Are you willing to be that candle in a dark world?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Playing hide-and-seek (Mark 4:21-23) July 18, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Leviticus 16-18

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 4:21-23
Jesus: When you bring a lamp into the house, do you put it under a box or stuff it under your bed? Or do you set it on top of a table or chest? Those things that are hidden are meant to be revealed, and what is concealed is meant to be brought out where its light can shine.
All who have ears to hear, let them listen.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Do you play hide-and-seek as a kid? I think it’s a popular game for most kids in almost every society. And I think we can get pretty good at it the older we get. As toddlers, we think that covering our eyes so that we can’t see anyone else means they can’t see us, but as we mature, we learn to hide in closets, find spaces in the cabinets, discover those hidden holes behind boxes in the garage. We find all kinds of places that others forget to look in and can stay hidden for a long time before anyone finds us. We can get pretty good at hiding.

I’m afraid too many of us have taken that hide-and-seek mentality and applied it to our faith. Are you that good at hiding your faith? I’ll have to admit, that’s one thing Muslim women do not do well. You can tell when they wear their burka what religion they practice. It’s hard for someone in a burka to hide their religion. But what about you? Do others know what you believe? Christians often look a lot like the crowd around them, or do they, or should they? Christians often are found the same place as everyone else, or are they, or should they? Christians often sound the same as everyone around them, or do they, or should they?

Do we hide in plain sight? Are we individually and collectively guilty of doing what Jesus implied when He talked about the covering up the lamp? Do we try to hide the light God puts in us when He saves us from our sins? Are we afraid to let His light shine through us so the world can see what He has done in us? Those are implications we have from Jesus’ words and the observations we see in the world around us.

Christians have become invisible. We look and sound like everyone else. Co-workers are surprised at the announcement of our faith. Neighbors are shocked if we suddenly say we won’t do something because we say we are Christian. They look at our behavior, our speech, our lifestyle and ask, “So what’s different about you?” What do we answer? What is different about us? How do people know that we are Christian? Can they see God’s light shining through us without us telling them?

I guess to know whether others can see that light we first have to have that light. It comes only by giving ourselves wholly to God. Body, soul, and spirit. Everything. Making Him Lord, Director, Guide, for everything we do. When we do that, God will begin to change us. He first forgives our sins and takes away the guilt we carry because of past sins. When that guilt is gone, it changes our countenance. That burden disappears and we begin to look different. We exude a peace and joy that is inexplicable to those around us because it doesn’t depend on the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Next God begins to transform us from the inside out. As Paul tells us in Romans, He renews our mind, He changes the way we think. We begin to think like He thinks because when we let Him begin to direct our thoughts. We begin to see others the way He sees them. We see others through His eyes of love and compassion and mercy and grace. We long to see others freed from the weight of sin and adopted into His family as we have been.

Then as we continue to listen to God and obey His will in our lives, we begin to bear His fruit in our lives. Those things Paul talks about in Galatians. We begin to show evidence of all of those fruit growing in us – unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These characteristics cannot be hidden. They come out in our relationships with others. These traits are so seldom seen in the world today that they jump out and flash in front of those around us like a strobe light.

Those who have given themselves fully to God and are living obediently to Him cannot hide. They are like a light on a hill, shining so everyone can see them. Everyone who looks in their direction sees their character, the fruit of the spirit shining through them. The love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that can only come from a life guided and directed by God radiates from their innermost being touching everyone who comes in contact with them.

Real Christians lose at playing hide-and-seek with their faith every single time. How well do you play?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

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Let your light shine (Matthew 5:15-16) January 9, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Matthew 3-4

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 5:15-16
Jesus: Similarly it would be silly to light a lamp and then hide it under a bowl. When someone lights a lamp, she puts it on a table or a desk or a chair, and the light illumines the entire house. You are like that illuminating light. Let your light shine everywhere you go, that you may illumine creation, so men and women everywhere may see your good actions, may see creation at its fullest, may see your devotion to Me, and may turn and praise your Father in heaven because of it.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus said we are like an illuminating light. Light dispels darkness. Not the other way around. If you ever study the properties of light, you discover there is no such thing as darkness. It’s really a word we made up to describe the absence of light. Just like we made up the word cold to describe the absence of heat. Heat and light describe energy, power, something that you cannot see and really no one can truly understand completely, but we see the effects of it all around us.

Light comes from our sun and warms our planet to just the right temperature for our survival. It excites the rods and cones on our retina and sends electrical impulses to our brain so we can interpret those signals into patterns of light and dark and different colors so we can “see”. Light gives us those incredible capabilities because of the wave and particle properties it possesses.

But darkness? Nonething. Darkness is just the absence of those wave and particle properties that give life and light and heat to the universe. A single candle can be seen for miles on a clear night. Why? Because light dispels the darkness. It pushes through the vacuum of nothingness and excites the senses like nothing else can. It takes away the fear of night because just a little light dispels the darkness.

When we come to know Christ, His light shines on us and in us. We begin to understand the truth of His words and we no longer fear the darkness around us because His light dispels that darkness. We know we will be victorious over the tempter of our souls if we just follow the light ahead of us. We can feel the warmth and joy that comes from the presence of His light. And when we have His light, the words of this verse make so much more sense because not only will His light illumine us, but we have an opportunity to let His light in us, illumine others.

So Jesus asks, “Who would hide a lamp under a bowl?” It would be a silly thing to do. When He shines His light on us and illumines our heart, our minds, our inner thoughts, He wants us to let His light shine in us so that others see it. He wants us to live as He would in a world that sorely needs His light. People run around blindly because they live in darkness. Satan puts blinders on the men and women of this world to shut out the light and so people grope around trying to find their way in the dark. But as God’s light, we can help them see the world differently. We can help them find hope and life and light for themselves by introducing them to the source of it all.

We can’t share that light if we hide our Christianity, though. We can’t share His light if we try to cover up who we follow. We can’t be a light to the world if we just attend church every once in a while and then look and act like the world the rest of the time. If we expect to be a light to those around us, we must demonstrate Christ’s love, grace, and mercy to those around us. We must show Him to the world through our good works.

Good works don’t save us, but are a natural outflow of the grace He extends to us. If we try to hide the love He gives to us, we will be like a candle trapped under a glass. Soon the oxygen is consumed and the flame goes out. The light is gone. To keep our light burning, we need to let it shine so others can see it. Hiding it means it will snuff out our own light. God doesn’t do it, but we snuff it out ourselves because we refuse to let it shine in the open air as light is meant to do.

So listen to Jesus words. “Let your light shine everywhere you go, that you may illumine creation, so men and women everywhere may see your good actions, may see creation at its fullest, may see your devotion to Me, and may turn and praise your Father in heaven because of it.”

Let Jesus’ light in you become a conflagration that consumes you and points others to Him giving Him praise, turning others to Him, seeing creation at its fullest.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.