An Ordinary Streetlamp

As I was on my way to work one day, my eye was drawn to an ordinary streetlamp in the parking lot of a local market. I noticed the ray of light that the streetlamp was giving off and how everything the light touched was illuminated and exposed. I also noticed how the things directly behind the lamppost, the things out of the direct path of light, were hidden in the shadows, dark and obscure. How can those things which are so close to the light still be in utter darkness?

My observations about that ordinary streetlamp made me think of the condition of many of our hearts. Many of us have been raised in church, gone to church, or have at least heard the Gospel message explained and expounded upon. Many of us have allowed the Word of God to powerfully challenge and change us. Many of us have allowed the light of God’s Word to illuminate all the dark places within our hearts and to flood our souls with His redemptive light, much like the light from that lamppost did to everything in its path. Yet, there are many of us who have heard those same words, who have been in God’s undeniable presence, who have attended church but have not let His light shine within. Many of us have lived in the shadows of God’s light, right on the verge of radiance yet remaining on the edge where there is no light. And where there is no light, there is only darkness.

Luke 11:33-36 says, “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

God’s Word is light. When His Word is in us, when we have completely surrendered everything and have opened our hearts, every nook and cranny, to God, our whole being will radiate that light. We cannot reside on the edge; there is no half-lit as far as God is concerned. We must live our lives in complete surrender, as complete as the completely lit ground below the streetlamp, illuminating God’s Word and presence through us. Step out of the shadows, soak in the rays of God’s light, and let “those who come in see the Light.”