Don't Let Your Light Go Out

A person may go to any public library, walk back to the 200 section on religion, and begin a causal browsing of the titles which strikes his eye. He may readily observe that very few organizations have been as analyzed, scrutinized, criticized, and categorized as "the church".

As the person begins reading some of the volumes that have been written about the church, he sees that what one praises, another condemns. One's mind may be overwhelmed by terms and words that are all but meaningless to the average person.

Around any town a person may notice the varieties of churches that are present - large and imposing, too small and seemingly insignificant, and from many organizations. How is it possible that this has happened? How has this simple, living institution that was founded by our Lord and His twelve disciples, today become not only so splintered but also a major force in both political and economic circles, with power an wealth that is incalculable?

If we were to ask the historian how the church has arrived at this place in history, we would probably get a mysterious and complex answer regarding the purposes of God.  But if we look into the pages of the Holy Scriptures, we will discover another reason.

Throughout the history of God's dealings with man, He sought to reconcile man back to Himself, to restore the fellowship lost in the fall. This is the ministry which He gave to the church - ministry of reconciliation. He called, equipped and sent us to fulfill this purpose. When the church loses this mission, it lapses into carnality and becomes socially motivated. But if we are to remain faithful to god's primary purposes, we must see the lost.

Consider a person who walks in t light of a full moon. Even though the has set, the moonlight lights the path so he may see. But the moon has no light n itself. When the Apollo 11 team returned from he moon in July, 1969, they brought back samples of lunar soil and rocks. Scientists found that the surface soil and rock contained fifty percent glass. God has placed a giant mirror in the night sky that reflects the sun's light.

So it is with the Christian. We have no light in ourselves, but we reflect to others the light of Christ in our hearts. God has called us out of darkness to lead others to His light.