Central West Virginia's Guide To Life

BUT I WORK ON SUNDAYS
By Mary Zimmer

11/07 - One True Light

I like to sit out on my deck in the back yard at night and watch the lightning bugs. I’ve noticed this year that there doesn’t seem to be as many as in the past.

Then the other day on one of the news shows, there was a report on that subject. Seems I wasn’t the only one who made that discovery.

The scientists believe the cause of this is all the artificial lighting that people are putting in their yards. There is so much light that the lightning bugs are confused about whether it’s daytime or nighttime.

The artificial lighting is causing them to think it is daytime so they don’t light up. They are still there flying around at night. We just don’t see them.

God's Holy Word tells us that Christians have God's Light within our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6). Jesus in Matthew 5:16 tells us to let our light shine before others.

As I thought about the lightning bug being confused by the false artificial lighting, I wondered if we were any different?

The world puts off a lot of artificial light that draws us to that light, causing us to stop shining with the Light of Christ before others.

The world says it’s ok to behave that way, to say those things, to live that way. So it must be right. As a result, like the lightning bug, we don’t shine as we ought to.

I would love to see more lightning bugs lighting up the sky at night. Even more, I would love to see the Light of Christ shining forth from God's children lighting up the dark world.

So a question for us to ponder this month, including myself, is: What artificial lighting of the world is causing me NOT to shine for the Lord before others?

Once we have that answer, it’s as simple as turning off the world’s artificial light and embracing the One True Light of God.
The lightning bugs have to rely upon us humans to turn off the artificial lighting so they can shine. We have a more reliable source – the true Light – Jesus Christ.

Embrace the true Light and let that Light fill your heart so that your light shines brightly before others!

If you don't have a Church family, I invite you to come join one of the Churches of the Grantsville UM Charge. Brooksville UM Church located in Big Bend has Sunday morning service at 9:30. Knotts Memorial UM Church located in Grantsville has Sunday morning service at 11:00. I pray we all have a blessed BRIGHT October!