light of the world

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:14

The One Who is the light of the world (John 8:12) emphatically declares His followers to be the light of the world. Why? For others to know Jesus, they must see Him in us. He must shine in, through, and among His church. Jesus has placed Christians, His Church, in the world to shine through them. We are the city set high on the hill for all around to see. We are open. We are vulnerable. We are the light of the world. We must not hide our love for Christ. We must not cover up the gospel.

Following Jesus and making Jesus known is the task of every Christian. And as our culture insists that faith is to be privatized exclusively in the realm of personal choice and not public discourse, we must shine all the brighter. People need the light of the gospel. People need Jesus. Christians need Him known in the church so they may always repent and believe, modeling the response to the gospel to the world at all times. And those who do not know Jesus must hear of His love, mercy, and forgiveness offered to atone for sin and remove the sentence of death from a rebel planet. Sinners under the wrath of God must find the shining gospel news from Jesus’ own people... and it has to be clear.

And so I am called to shine today. I am called to be a bright light to my world. I am called to make Jesus known, to proclaim my faith naturally, winsomely, and visibly so that Jesus will clearly be the Light of the world.