“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.’
“And the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?'” Luke 11:33-36,39-40
“Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” 1 Peter 3:3-4
Those whom the Lord has saved have His Spirit of light within. Upon regeneration, He clarifies vision and a fits us with a spiritual filter for what we take in from the world, giving discernment and the will to make good decisions. His inextinguishable light creates imperishable beauty that distinguishes His own. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
This light within should be radiating by way of love, grace, ready forgiveness, and generosity. Our living and working should make evident the light that Jesus is and gives. It will expose untruth with wisdom and kindness. It will warm and embrace with interest, care, and hope as it radiates through demeanor and welcome. It will dispel the dark of sadness and invade and lift the heaviness of a heart. And it will shine on the way forward toward eternal life for those who walk in darkness.
But if our shine is dull, it betrays a darkness we coddle inside. Jesus knows everything hidden, and while we might do a decent job of cursory coverup, our glossing over before the seen world doesn’t fool Him. His word penetrates and exposes the darkness within us. It convicts of snapping back with irritated words, rolling eyes with disdain at the unlovable, our huff and crank when inconvenienced. Will we allow Him to enter the inner chambers of heart and mind to wash and shine? (Luke 12:2-3; Hebrews 4:12)
What wrong right are we nursing? What resentment, superiority, greed, sloth, or unchecked drive do we feed, pet, and justify? What besetting sins have we hidden for too long that the Spirit is prompting us to relinquish forever? How can the burning, brilliant light of Jesus transform us today, and where might it shine anew?
“Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art–
thou my best thought, by day or by night;
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.” ~Irish 8th c
Lord Jesus, search me and remove any wicked way, any willful sin. Create in me a new heart that I might shine Your heavenly light for others to see. (Psalm 19:13; 51:7,10)
As the rain and snow 