"Light Bulbs"

"Let your light so shine before men..." Matthew 5:16

When you go to the store and buy a light bulb, is it shining in the box? Do you have to cover it up to keep it from shining in your place of storage before you are ready to place it in the room? A light bulb doesn't shine until it's plugged into the power source. We are like light bulbs-- we are suppose to shine in this dark world so that men can locate where they are (lost) and how to find the way to walk. When the light bulb is manufactured, it is designed to be a light bulb and its purpose is to shine. When we came to Christ in repentance and He made us into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), He designed us to be "light bulbs" for the purpose of shining. Even though we are light bulbs, we don't shine unless we are "plugged" into the power source.

Many Christians each day are trying to "shine" but aren't because they are not "plugged in". Just because I'm a "light bulb" doesn't mean I am shining, I have to be connected to the power source. "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world:" (John 8:12a) When Moses left the camp and went up the mountain into the presence of God, there was nothing extraordinary about him- he looked like everyone else. But when he came down off of the mountain- after being in the presence of God- the Bible says that his face shone so brightly that he had to hide it under a veil in order for the people to be able to look at him. (Exodus 34) What happened to Moses? Why did he come back looking different? What caused his face to shine like the sun? He was "plugged in" to the power source.

You may be a light bulb but aren't shining--- and you aren't going to shine unless you get plugged in. The way you do that is by getting into the presence of God. We also learn from the story of Moses that it doesn't just happen in a minute or two. He was there forty days. No, you don't have to tarry for forty days in a mountain to get plugged in so that you will shine. But it does take more than that ten minutes you give Him in the car on the way to work. It does take more than just getting in His presence once a week on Sunday mornings. It does take more than a "microwave" moment while on the run. I can partially screw a light bulb into the socket but it still doesn't have a connection. It may look like it's plugged in but it's not so it still won't shine. Are you shining today? Are you plugged in? If you aren't you won't shine. Or is there a loose connection? If there is you won't shine.

Have a great day. You are a light, but you aren't shining unless you are plugged into the presence of the power source-- Jesus.