Open the Blinds

Recently I was reading in the book of Matthew when a thought popped into my head. Matthew 5 verses 14-16 says...

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

As I was reading this I started to think about what the American Christian is known for. I mean when people think of a Christian in the United States, what are the things they associate with them. So, I did a survey of Christian and non-Christians and the most common answers were that Christians go to church on Sundays and they go to bible studies during the week.

So then I started to think about these two activities. First, in purely a physical sense. On Sunday mornings (and sometimes on Saturday nights) all over this country millions of Christians get up and go to Church. Let's think about the physcial building they meet in. A church sanctuary is a building usually with no windows. When the service starts the doors are usually closed and remain closed until the end of the service when everyone goes home. Next...Let's talk about our Bible studies. Well, Bible studies are usually held in people's homes. So here we have a group of Christians meeting during the week in a building where the door is closed and the shades are drawn as we study the Bible.

Now when Jesus calls His followers "the light of the world", He uses a physical lamp as an illustration to help us get a mental picture of what He is talking about. So if we use that same picture with the average American Christian, we get a whole lot of Christians who take all of our lights (the lights of the world) and go inside buildings with no windows and shut the doors as we meet shining our lights on each other while people on the outside are left in the darkness. Do you think this is what Jesus had in mind when He called us the "light of the world"?

Now let's look at these two activities in a spiritual sense. Unfortunatley we (Christians) don't do a better job of being lights in a spiritual sense either. For example; the average Christian in the US, does not tithe to help others, is not giving to any missions organization, has not gone on a missions trip themselves and does not even know the name of their next door neighbor. He or she goes to Church once a week and lives a different life during the week than on Sundays.

So physically and spiritually, the two things the "light of the wold" is known for is taking all of our lights and putting them inside buildings and walls which keep all the light inside. Does this bother you at all?

Again if we are "the light of the world" then others are in darkness and are in need of our light. When we don't we are not living out our faith during the week, when we are not sharing out light with our neighbors much less know their names, when we are not more like Jesus during the week then on Sundays then we are not being "the light of the world".

Jesus goes on to say that when you are the light of the world, not only do you need to shine but you need to put your light on a stand and allow more people to see it. Church, when all we are known for is our meeting inside our closed sanctuaries and homes or living one way inside the church and completely different outside then we are not following Jesus, we are not being Christians.

We need to rethink our view of Church. Church should be the lighting service where we get our lights all re-lit. Some of our lights are really burning bright but some of us barely have a flame and Church should be a place where we come together to help each other burn as bright as we can be SO... (this is the most important part) we can take our lights out of the sanctuary and start shining in the world, in the dark alleys of people's broken lives and in the dark shadows of peoples hurts and pains and in the darkness of the sould who have no hope.

This is what Christianity was supposed to be...what we are known for should not be our meetings on Sunday but our doings during the week. We have such a great opportunity today to be light to so many people. It seems like kindness and common courtesy are things of the past. Today just holding the door for someone or saying thank you, taking out your neighbor's trash cans or telling someone you appreciate their hard work can really stand out. And as we do these things everyday, we will be putting our lights on a stand and letting them shine before men and we will be the Church. Then as people see a light in their dark world, they will recognize it to be the light of Jesus and as He promised then He will draw all men to Himself.

So, Church lets bring glory and honor to our Savior, let's let our lights shine before men!