This Little Light of Mine

August 12, 2021

Pastor Ken Brown Jr

Hi, this is pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…This Little Light of Mine As a Papa (in our family that means grandpa) I get to sing lots of children’s songs with little ones. The sheer number of grandchildren we have, fourteen, has given me many opportunities to do so. Generally, I only do when they are very young because at the tender age of one or two they are unable to appreciate just how poorly their Papa sings. If they get much older than that, and I attempt it, I am met with some puzzled expressions from their sweet faces that cause me to laugh to the point of not being able to sing anyway. One of the tunes I remember singing with them and in fact, some of their parents as well, is This Little Light of Mine. You know how it goes…this little light is going to “Shine all over the neighborhood”, we won’t “Hide it under a bushel”, and we “Won’t let Satan blow it out”. We are going to “Let it shine, let it shine, all the time”. Scripture certainly reinforces the truth of this children’s hymn. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Have you ever considered that the 7 days we speak about at Crossroad are intended solely to glorify our Heavenly Father? According to this scripture the good things we do are to be done so that Jesus is seen, not so that we are seen. So if people walk right by when you are trying to serve them and don’t even think to thank you…that’s ok, it’s Jesus we want them to see, not us. If we return kindness for unkindness, awesome, but don’t become discouraged if you don’t get the result you want…it’s not about you…it’s ok if you seem invisible. We have to remember, we’re not showing off, we’re showing Jesus off. In the verse just before the one above Matthew 5:15 Jesus said: “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” (NLT) This analogy is wonderful because in its practical sense it is a ‘no brainer’…and so that same inclination should transfer to the intended message. It should be a ‘no brainer’ that the truth of the gospel would be on display in our lives at all times. That we would never shy away from telling someone about Jesus. J.D. Greer says in his book Not God Enough that there are really only two reasons we would fail to tell anyone and everyone about Jesus. Either we don’t care enough about them to try to help save their lives or, we don’t really believe that it is necessary for them to follow Christ for to avoid losing their lives. A difficult thought to consider for certain. We like to say it is because the time isn’t right, or we haven’t felt the call of the Spirit to speak. The truth is though; we would never wonder if the time was right to jump into a pool to save a drowning child or wait for a prompting from the Holy Spirit to shout an emphatic warning to a blind person ready to step onto a busy street. Again a hard consideration to ponder, but a necessary one I think. John 1:5 in the New Living Translation says The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. Again the truth of the metaphor contained in this scripture is evident. Light in any amount overcomes darkness. Darkness ceases to exist in the light, any light. By definition darkness is the absence of light, therefore, any level of light causes darkness to cease being darkness. However, we all know there are varying degrees of light. Anyone who has ever watched the sun rise has witnessed this phenomenon. The more light we allow to shine through our lives the brighter the surrounding. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:8: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. John 8:12 in the New King James Version reads: Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." As Christ followers we know what Jesus meant when He made this statement. We know that He was making His assertion with His “I AM” statement that He was indeed the Son of God. We understand that the darkness He spoke of was not physical darkness but the darkness of sin. We also understand Him to be saying that if we have Him, or better said, let Him have us, we will posses the light He offers, the light of righteousness and eternal life with Him. We know all of that, we believe all of that, we must share all of that…all the time…with everybody. “Let it shine, Let it shine, All the time!” So now, singing this children’s hymn with everything you have…Go be Awesome!