Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matt. 5:16
Radiate. The word means to beam, to broadcast, to illuminate, to light up, to shine. We are called to radiate. Let’s be honest. The world we live in is dark. We live in a world full of messed up broken people. We are all too familiar with hunger, poverty, crime, death and sorrow. We came from the darkness. We were bred into it. It was etched into our DNA. We have been brought up from darkness into light itself (Eph. 5:8). The day we said yes to Him, we shed that darkness. It fell to the floor like a snake sheds it skin and He wrapped His light around us like a blanket (Romans 13:11-14).
Jesus is light. He doesn’t just possess light or emanate light. It’s more than that…He IS light (John 8:12). In Genesis 1:3, God says let there be LIGHT. Eleven verses later He creates the sun, the stars and the moon. The light He speaks to in verse 3 is the light of the world, Jesus. This world will one day fade away, but we can be sure that there will be a new heaven and a new Earth. The city will be lit by the very glory of God. The sun and moon will no longer be relevant compared to so great a light (Rev. 21:23). This light radiates through us. He calls us His children of light. He tells us that in the midst of a crooked and twisted society that we shine…We shine like the brightest of stars, as we cling to Him and don’t let go (Phil 2:15-16).
We were created to reflect the light of our Saviour, in much the same way that a mirror is designed to reflect the image of the one that looks at it. As the Lord sets His gaze on us, never once taking His eyes off us, we bear His reflection (Job 36:7).
Jesus tells us to never hide the light that He has put inside of us (Matthew 5:14-16). He has called us to shine. We were created to Radiate.
