Light in the Darkness!
children. The teacher taught the children that day and said, “Jesus is the light of the Lord.” Not realizing the symbolic phraseology of the teacher, the little boy came up to her after class and said, “Teacher, if this Mr. Jesus really is the light of the world, I wish He’d come and visit the street by my house. It’s awful dark where I live.”
Darkness is prevalent throughout our world. The darkness of sin is in your community and in the streets of your town. While darkness surrounds many of our churches in Arkansas and across America, the light of the gospel must not be allowed to grow dim. The light of the gospel of Jesus grows dim in our churches when we forget that in our churches there is but one celebrity and His name is Jesus!
Have you noticed how too many of our churches are being built on the wrong foundations? Some of our churches are making celebrities out of the wrong things. For example, some churches are being built around some pastor. The guy has charisma, people skills, and can really preach. However, nothing that will last beyond the pastor is being built. Other churches are built around the decision making of a group of people. This is a group that has appointed themselves as the final word in all things related to the church. They have established themselves as the ruling council on all things. Some of our churches are building their ministry around some program. For them it is the music program that is the focus of the church, or it is the Student ministry, or some other program that has become the end all in the church’s ministry.
The reality is that out there in the darkness where real people live, there is but one light that can change lives and that one light is Jesus! If you have even one celebrity in your church who is taking focus away from Jesus and His mission, then the light of the gospel will grow dim. Let’s elevate Jesus to the highest place once again in our churches. It was Jesus who said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself (Jn. 12:33).” Let’s lift up Jesus crucified, buried, and risen again so that people in darkness will be drawn to His light.
