This Little Light of Mine is the One I’m Going to Let Shine

Ephesians 5:6-20

            Do you remember the church song so many of us used to sing? It went something like this: “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine; Let it shine; Let it shine.” When I read these verses that were written by Paul it reminded me of this song. We all have a calling and Paul is really so clever in how he puts it. We need to be “People of Light”. It’s not about race. Personally when I hear this phrase I think of knights slaying demons and dragons. They are destroying the darkness. My thought is not far off from Paul’s meaning.

            What does a lamp do when you turn it on in a dark room? Well, it lights up all the dark corners of course. God calls us to do the same thing. This little light of ours needs to be shined. This little light is actually not that tiny. It is huge and powerful it is the light of Jesus. Paul describes us and tells us how to shine this way: “You used to be like people living in the dark, but now you are people of the light because you belong to the Lord. So act like people of the light and make your light shine. Be good and honest and truthful, as you try to please the Lord.” (5:8-10). to translate this further, Paul is saying that we were all dark; however, now that we have Jesus, we are people of the light. We are God’s children. The way we shine is to do things to please Jesus. That’s all we have to do. Paul goes on to say that we should avoid worthless things that are being done in the dark. In verse 12 he mentions how disgusting they are. Think about that for a second. We all know things that are done in the dark and the perverseness and stupidity that lies in it. Think of how perverted pornography is; there are genres that include senior citizens. How about drug usage or even alcohol? Have you ever seen a person stoned out of their mind? They act so dumb. Almost all of us have seen a drunk, and they can’t even walk straight and seem “slow”. “But the light will show what these things are really like.”-vs. 13 it’s interesting, having Jesus is like having a filter. We see things for what they really are. Think about this fact throughout your day.

            Like in all the medieval movies and shows darkness is appealing, but it always ends with a dark twist and almost always kills. It’s the same thing in real life. If you give in to darkness you are killing yourself. Sometimes this death is physically (by slowly killing your body), but it is definitely always spiritually. That is why we feel the need for more darkness because we want it to make us feel alive. Are you following?

            I know this little devotional can be confusing; it is mostly my thoughts all jumbled world. Let’s show people the darkness that they are really engulfed in. Remember, it is not in a judging way because Paul also talked about love. We need to do all this in love. There are numerous ways we can shine. For example, verse 19 talks about meeting together to sing songs and worship with all your heart. We can pray together and all this light will build with such a magnitude that it will burst out from us and spill out to the dark corners that surround us. I challenge you to shine today. As Paul says in verse 16, “These are evil times, so make every minute count.”