This week I want to start off with some verses, ““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.”” Luke 11:33-36
In our society today, the world is trying to have us keep our beliefs in the church building. But, we need to realize, we are the church and the light of the world. Light is in us and they can try to tell us that our beliefs are supposed to stay inside the building of the church, but we are the church and we have the light the world needs. They can try to make us cover up the light that is within us, they often say that we are trying to push our “religion” on them and sometimes I think we are so eager to share our light that we come across as pushy, but more often I think that it is the Holy Spirit calling them to Jesus.
If you are in a dark room for a little while and someone turns on the light, your eyes will hurt for a few seconds and then your eyes will adjust. But, when a Christian walks into a room, it should be the same way, some people will adjust and want to know what the light is and some people will be offended and want you to leave, just how some people would want the light to be turned off in the room. So many people seem to be offended by our light, that they seem to want to bring any other religious holidays up to celebrate, but when it comes to Easter and Christmas they want to take Christ out of the holidays and call it something else, like spring break or winter holidays.
I even see people in Christian circles calling our holidays by other names to try to keep from offending anyone. If you aren’t saying Merry Christmas because you are worried about offending someone and you are a Christian, then you need to check yourself. In the passage above Jesus is saying, if you dwell in light, then you will be a light, if you dwell on darkness, then your light will go out, but that does not mean you lose your salvation, it means that you are supporting the world. We are called to be in the world, but not of the world. One of my pastors would say you support one of two kingdoms, the kingdom of the world or God’s kingdom.
Here is my question this week, whose kingdom are you supporting this week with your words and actions? I also want you to remember this week, that we are the church, the church is not a building, it is a gathering of people and that church can not be contained within four walls. Even if they threw us in prison the gospel would continue on, even without a church building. This week I also want to encourage you to be less worried about offending people with your faith and to be more worried about their souls.