Let There Be Light

A few weeks ago I discovered a treasure at the local store.  I found some of those battery operated tea light candles (it’s the small things!).  Candles of any sort are a little hard to come by in the village and these little tea lights were going to put the finishing touch on one of my decorations.  

With great anticipation I opened my package of candles and flipped the power switch to “on”.  Expecting the warm glow of candlelight to emanate from my new decoration (okay, so maybe LED light isn’t exactly warm, but you get the idea), I was quite surprised and more than a little disappointed when nothing happened.  No flickering LED light, no warm glow, nothing.  

Thinking the problem must be the battery, I opened the back of the candle to investigate the reason for the lack of light.  What did I find?  A little plastic shield that prevents the battery from providing power to the candle. Of course if I had read the instructions, I would have saved myself some frustration because the instructions clearly stated that you “must remove the plastic shield over the battery before the candle will operate”.  Oh.  Right.  It’s amazing how things work when we follow instructions!

Isn’t that just like our life?  When we discover the treasure of Jesus and choose to embrace him, he promises that we are a brand new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and we will be a light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6). Sometimes however our light doesn’t work and we wonder why.  But when we read God’s instruction book, it clearly states that in order for Jesus to power-up our light we have to remove the thing that prevents us from tapping into His power:  sin—anything and everything that displeases God (Romans 8:13). The more we indulge our sinful nature, the further we get from God’s power, and the dimmer our light grows until it finally disappears altogether.    

Together, let's turn away from the sin in our lives that prevents us from tapping into God’s power.  Then, and only then, will the warm glow of the Holy Spirit emanate from our souls and shine so that those around us will discover the treasure of Jesus, too.  (Matthew 5:16)