December 18, 2015
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to his followers, “You are the light of the world.” In the original Greek text, “You” is in the emphatic position meaning, “You, and you alone, are the light of the world.” What did Jesus mean by that?
In the Bible, “light” is a symbol of good, and “darkness” is a symbol of evil. God is totally good, so it is written, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
Likewise, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
We have no light of our own. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, so we reflect the light of God and his Son. Reflected light is what we are. Reflecting light is what we do. Our reflected light illuminates the way to God and exposes the dangers of evil. It opens people’s eyes to truth and righteousness, and it warms their hearts with the love of God.
Satan is trying to put out our light (2 Corinthians 4:4). He is trying to keep people from seeing the glory of Christ who radiates the glory of God. Satan is also trying to blind people to the light reflected by Jesus’ followers.
The God who spoke light into existence on the first day of creation is the God who makes his light shine in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6).
We are called to let our light shine to the whole world by living godly lives and by sharing our faith with others. If we, the followers of Christ, do not let our light shine, there is no hope for the world. That is what Jesus was saying.
Jesus is saying to us, as he said to Paul, “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they can receive forgiveness of sins” (Acts 26:17-19).
Jesus is asking you to let your light shine. You can do that by sharing your faith with WEI students all over the world. Enroll as an Internet teacher today by logging on to our teaching web site at www.worldenglishinstitute.org/register/teacher.
To our friends whose lights are shining as teachers, and to those of you who partner with us financially, we say, “Thank you. We love you.”
—Dick & Maudine Ady
