There is a continuous struggle between light and dark in the world and it seems as if the dark is winning. Just look at the TV news one evening or take the newspaper and make two columns. In one column list all the dark stories and in the other stories about light. You and I both know in which column the majority of stories will be.

We’ve become so used to stories about the dark that we don’t even miss the stories about the light. Here is someone who is confronted by this every day:

I am an undertaker who has to listen to people’s legacies nearly every day! I can only shake my head! The Lord is mentioned very seldom! From start to finish it’s such a brag party about what that person had achieved in his life. Sad, very sad!!!

The devil keeps you so busy with earthly things (money, house, car, job, image, promotion, etc) that we become like donkeys running after the carrot! All we see is that carrot!  But if you know the Lord (not simply know about him, but really know Him), you’re like those people in Matrix – you are unplugged! You see what life is really about!

Then it’s so sad to see those people still running after the carrot! You try to unplug them, but, o, people are so hardheaded!

This is someone who is confronted every day by people who have finished with life. Their existence on earth is finished and all that is left is their legacy. This picture repeats itself all the time and it is not a nice picture. It’s a picture of the dark. A picture of people who have never seen the light. We sigh and wonder why they never unplugged. Why couldn’t they see past the carrot to the light and Light?

3If our Message is obscure to anyone, it’s not because we’re holding back in any way. No, it’s because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. 4All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won’t have to bother believing a Truth they can’t see. They’re stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we’ll ever get.

I feel nauseous thinking about it, because every day all of us come into contact with people still stumbling around in the dark. What do we do about it? Do I hide Jesus’ light or can people see it? How many chances do I get every day to light up the darkness for them a little bit?

The time has come for us to take a stand and say: No further. We cannot simply continue living life our way while people next to us and around us are stumbling along in the mud. We have to shine God’s light. We owe it to the people walking through life with us.

In everything I do and say, in every little action I take Jesus’ light must shine. The way in which I greet the petrol attendant and ask him to fill up the car, the cashier, the person who calls to sell you another cell phone package, your loved one who has once again not done what you asked, everywhere you must shine the light and the Light.

Life will be different if we do that. For sure!

Click here to go to the Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

Reflection

How can you take Jesus’ light out into the world?

Where don’t you always do it?

Where can you go and do it now?

Prayer

Our Father, thank you for letting me see the Light. There are so many people who do not see it yet. I know and understand that it is my responsibility. It is a big responsibility. Please help me to do this wherever I walk through life. Amen