Articles
Our Light
If we were to close our eyes and picture a lone candlestick, what would we see? What words come to mind that this candle would represent? Would it be a dim light, a bright light, or would there even be no light? The representation of the candle reminds me of the blind beggar in Luke 18. Both the candle and the blind man represent us, as individuals and as a church.
Jesus is walking into Jericho as a crowd is starting to gather around him and follow him. The crowd passes by a blind man begging in the street. Once he is told from the crowd that it is Jesus’s presence that is causing everyone to gather, he cries out for Jesus to have mercy. The crowd immediately tries to quell the beggar to keep him silent, but he is persistent and indeed catches Jesus’s attention. The beggar regains his sight from Jesus, who tells him that it was because of his faith. Just as this man believed in Jesus's power to heal him, we need to have that same kind of faith.
We may go through struggles in life like the beggar struggled with being blind, but just as he did we need to turn to Jesus the moment those struggles come. Even our faith is a struggle in this world; what did the crowd do the moment the blind man cried out for Jesus? They rebuked him and tried to dim his faith, to burn out his light, and the world is going to try and do the same to us. Jesus and His word are the ultimate strength, and we must lean on that to overcome the crowd, to overcome the world, and indeed make it to Jesus so we can be saved.
We are saved when we first spark that light through baptism, when we grow that light in prayer and keeping his word, and if we hold true to all these things, we will be saved in death. There is no greater moment than when someone turns to Jesus: when the beggar turned to Jesus, it says, “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.” What is even better than the blind man seeing is because of his faith, everyone began to have faith.
We all should ask ourselves, how bright is our light and our faith in Jesus? What can we do this week and every week to grow that light? As well as how can show that growing light to others?
