I was listening to a friend of mine speak the other day about wanting to be a mirror that reflects the love of Jesus to everyone. She was really passionate about the idea of being this 'thing' that would show the people around her that Jesus is real and alive and all those good things that comes with that. I could see her heart pounding faster as she spoke enthusiastically about being used by God to his people. But as I listened, I thought to myself, "So you want to reflect the love and light of Jesus to the world but you yourself want to reject the light? That doesn't make sense. Why would you want to be the reflection of light?" You see, a mirror doesn't absorb the light it rejects it. When light introduces itself to a mirror, the mirror then bounces off the light into another direction. It's as if the mirror says, "thank you but I'm not interested. I'd rather you shine in another direction."
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world". He also said, "You ARE the light of the world". He never said, "Reflect the light", He said, "Be the light". Jesus, who is the light, wants us to absorb His Spirit so intensely that we can do not other that become lights ourselves. He wants to live so powerfully in us that we cannot contain His glory but radiate it to everyone who comes in contact with us. God is not interested in making mirrors; He is in the lighting business.
If we are happy reflecting Jesus to others, we have lost the great power available to us in our short lifetime. Jesus wants to be so intimate with us that we become the carriers of that darkness destroying power. He also goes on to say, "That whoever follows Him WILL have the light and never walk in darkness".
Have you ever been in a room that was so dark you couldn't see you hand in front of your face? What difference did it make when you lit a candle? A world of difference! Once you light that candle, the darkness retreats from that light and hides behind anything it possibly can - just to get away. The light then becomes the life of that room. Every one of us has the greatest opportunity to be the light that shines in the darkness of this world. The darker the room… the brighter the light.
"I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light" – John Keith Falconer
Scripture: John 8:12. Matt 5:14.
