natalie’s blog

Imagine that you go out for a walk on a cold night. As you stroll along an empty road, you enjoy the crisp air, even as the temperature continues to drop. All of a sudden, a car crests the top of the hill in front of you. The bright lights blare down on you full force. You are temporarily blinded and exclaim in irritation at why the driver does not at least lower his lights. You are more than a little annoyed at his insensitivity. You look around for any way to escape the piercing illumination. Finally, you sigh in relief as the car passes by and you are free to continue your walk in the darkness of the night.

Now…imagine once again that you go out for a walk on a cold night. As you round a bend in the road, you see the flickering light of a burning fire off to the side of the road a short distance ahead. Your pace quickens a little as you anticipate the possibility of an opportunity to gain a moment of relief from the growing coldness of the night. As you approach, it looks warm and inviting. You are drawn to stand at the fire and enjoy the warmth it provides. Eventually, you pull yourself away and walk back into the night, feeling the cold even more intensely now that you have experienced for a moment the warmth of the fire.

This is the contrasting image that the Lord placed on my heart recently as I studied the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” The Greek word for “light” is the same word used elsewhere to describe Peter warming himself by the fire (“light”). Hence, the analogy above.

How often have I made it my personal mission to “enlighten” the ones around me with the bright light of truth when what they really needed was a warm, inviting fire to draw them out of the dark, cold world? To put it less abstractly, how often have I been satisfied to speak boldly some truth from the Word of God when what I should have done was lend a listening ear, or a sensitive heart, or a helping hand to someone who needed to feel the warmth of the love of Christ through me?

Absolutely let us Christians be the light of the world! But perhaps we should take a moment to ask, “What kind of a light am I?”

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