Pick up your light

Pick up your light!

A new pastor arrived in town and one of the families at his church wanted to get to know him.  So, they invited him over to lunch after church.  They wanted to impress him so, they got out their finest china and silverware.  As they visited, they made sure to recount all the ways in which they served and ministered at their church.

A few months later the wife said to her husband, “You know, ever since the pastor came over for lunch we’ve been missing a spoon from our fine silver.  Do you think that the pastor could have taken it?”  The husband replied, “Only one way to find out - let’s ask.“

So, they invited the pastor over for lunch again and as they were finishing the meal, the wife said, “Pastor, ever since you visited us a few months ago our family heirloom silver spoon has been missing.  Did you take the spoon?”

The pastor wiped his mouth with his napkin and with a gentle, but knowing smile said, “I didn’t take your spoon.  But I did put it in your Bible.”

 Ouch.  That family’s pious front was blown up when their poor Bible reading habit was found out by the one person that they would least want to know.  Perhaps if they spent more time in their Bibles they would have known that impressing the pastor doesn’t matter - but loving him does.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”

The Bible is not like any other book.  It isn’t even like other sacred texts.  Why?  Because it is the inspired words of God himself, the Creator, Sustainer and Finisher of this world. 

He gave us his words so that we might know Him and his holiness, that we might know ourselves and our sinfulness, and that we may know his Christ, the Anointed One, Jesus, the Savior of all who repent of their sin and trust him.

And not only that, God’s word shows us how to live – no not in every minute detail, but in what really matters: how we love him, how we love others, and how to represent him well. 

I’m telling back to many of you what you know and have internalized a long time ago, but in these days of fearfulness and uncertainty I want to remind you of one more thing: where there’s no light, there’s fear. 

Imagine being a miner on a solo run down the mineshaft when all of a sudden your headlamp goes out.  No light anywhere – just all-consuming, inky blackness.  It would be a fearful situation – you can’t see what’s near you or ahead.

That’s what it's like to walk this life without the light of God’s word.  It can be fearful and uncertain. 

But God’s word lights the way – not that we move through life without fear, but our fears are calmed because we have the sure and steady light of his word. 

So, if it’s been a while since you picked up your “light” and read, start today.  Read the Gospels, read this week’s sermon passage, read anything from the Bible, but whatever you do start again and enjoy the riches and light of God’s word for us.