Luke 11:33 – “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.” (NIV) 

 What is a Christian?  Is it believing that Jesus is God’s son?  Is it believing that Jesus died for our sins?  It certainly is those things, but it’s more.  When I receive someone into church membership, I not only ask them if they trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior, but I also ask them if they promise to serve Jesus as their Lord.  This is a part of Christianity that many overlook. 

Being a Christian is living the life that our Lord commands us to live.  In today’s reading we have some directions from Jesus as to how it is that we are live our life.  This short passage has three critical parts.

First, there is a practical lesson about lamps: “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.”  Lamps have a purpose, and that is to illumine the area around the lamp.  It would be foolish to light a lamp (or turn one on), and then cover it up.  It would be defeating the very purpose of the lamp. 

The second part of this passage is: “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness.”  This reminds me of the line from the children’s song that goes, “O be careful little eyes what you see.”   What we see, and what we experience, will help to determine whether our spiritual life is healthy.  If we take in as much of God’s light as we can (through Scripture, worship, Christian fellowship, prayer), our whole body will be filled with light.  When we ignore these things, darkness soon fills our life.

Third, if we are careful with what we see and take in, then we will be like a lamp, shinning for others to see God’s light: “See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”  Other people, who may not have God’s light within them, will see God’s light illuminating through us.  Just as we are drawn to a light when all around us is dark, those who live in darkness are often drawn to those whose lives shine God’s light. 

Jesus, our Lord, wants those in darkness to be drawn to him through his disciples.  Remember, covering a lamp would be defeating the very purpose of the lamp.  Likewise, not doing what we can to have the light of God shining from within us is defeating the very purpose of the Church, the Body of Christ.  Let’s let our light shine! 

Posted by Ramón Torres