This Little Light of Mine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

Let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine!

As I was driving home from work today, I couldn’t keep myself from singing this song. With all that goes on in our day-to-day lives, sometimes the most refreshing thing to do is sit and sing a song from back in the day. But something interesting began to happen as I song this one. The more I sang, the more my mind began to really focus on the lyrics to the song. And I began to wonder if we really understood the weight of these words. What is this light? Why should I let it shine? How do I let it shine? Leave it to me to find a deep theological meaning behind a children’s hymn, but the Bible does say God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. And even tho this song is outwardly simplistic, it truly has a deep doctrinal undertone that summarizes the ultimate goal of all who follow The Lord Yeshua who is the Christ. So if you would please bear with me as I explain myself and hopefully you come to see this song in a new light.

I find it interesting that the phrase “little light” is used in this song. And if you really think about this biblically it seems to bring up an apparent contradiction in scripture. On one hand, the Bible says that Jesus is the light in verses like John 3:16-21 & 1 Peter 2:9; however, in the same breath calls the followers of Jesus the light. Matthew 5:13-16. How can this be? If we were to see Jesus and ask him “Lord who is the light of the world, you or the Church”? I believe he would respond with a simple “YES”. I know this may not make any sense to you so I am going to try to use an analogy and hopefully clear things up. Lets examine the Sun and the Moon. The Sun is our only source of heat. Without it life as we know it could not exist. With that being said, the Sun, for all intents and purposes, is an all-consuming fire and if the Earth is moved any closer to the Sun, its temperatures would be too extreme to sustain life; however, if the Earth is moved any further away, temperatures would be too cold. Seems as if someone has perfectly placed the Earth far enough from the Sun that it wouldn’t burn up, but close enough that it wouldn’t become a frozen tundra. Furthermore, the Sun is our primary source of Light. Without it we could not see because the Earth would be shrouded in darkness. Now lets look at the Moon. The Moon is uniquely placed far enough from the Earth that it doesn’t cause chaos, yet it is close enough to protect the Earth from comets, asteroids, or any other major space debris. In addition, the Moon is uniquely design to reflect light. It, in and of its self, has no ability to produce this light. Yet without the Moon, we couldn’t see unless our position on the Earth is facing the Sun. So the Sun and Moon both are sources of light for the Earth with the Sun being the primary emanator of light and the Moon reflecting that same light. Here is the clincher. Just like the Moon reflects the light of the SUN. We as believers must reflect the light of SON so that those who are in Darkness can see. Amen, Hallelujah, praise The Lord. So we see it is perfectly possible and logical for the Bible to teach that Jesus is the light of the world as well as believers being the light.

So the question now is “what are you as Christians doing to reflect the light of our Lord?” When those who are trapped in darkness see you, what or who are you pointing them to? 1 Corinthians 12 teaches us that no believer is greater than the other and no believer is useless. Every last one of us has a unique finger print for a reason. Please understand that we serve a God who is purposeful and has purposefully place us in this place, at this time, in what ever situation you’re in for a reason. You are the body of Christ, meaning that you are his representative uniquely positioned in the Earth to impact it with the news of the Gospel. Never lose site of that. My prayer for you today is that you will always keep the main thing, the main thing. Namely this:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,
not counting their trespasses against them,
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Amen! Hallelujah! Praise The Lord!