Saturday morning, ten o-clock, and I'm still in bed feeling far too lazy to get up. I'm lying on my stomach with my face towards the wall. My black curtain is closed though a couple of sunbeams sneak around the edges. I notice, in spite of this, my wall is strangely bright.
I shift my arm and the wall darkens. A little confused, I turn over and notice a sunbeam shining onto my white, black, and red plaid bottom bedsheet. I glance back at the wall and find it to be bright once again. I slide my navy comforter under the sunbeam and over my sheet. The wall darkens. I pull back my comforter and, sure enough, the wall lights up. The sun was reflecting off of the white of my bedsheet onto my wall, brightening up the room significantly.
My sheet didn't have it's own light. But in reflecting the sunbeams, it acted as a light in my dark bedroom.
In a similar way, we're not made to expel our own source of light. We're made to reflect a better, purer light. The light of Christ.
We are not righteous in our own right. Any attempt at being righteous in and of ourselves is like my navy comforter absorbing the sun's light rather than reflecting it. No one really likes a self-righteous person. There's a reason why the term carries a negative connotation. But how often do we try to live by our righteous efforts? The sad thing is anyone who thinks themselves righteous by their own moral prowess in fact winds up exhibiting the exact opposite of what they're attempting to show off.
“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light." (Luke 8:16)
We've been justified (made right in the eyes of God) by Christ's sacrifice. We have been given the righteousness of Christ as a free gift. But still we try to prove our own ability to be right before God. How often do we, even unintentionally, snub the light of Christ by trying to put ourselves on a pedestal? He has given us a light to put on our side table. We're made to reflect not shine. We're made to carry a light, not produce it.
An elder in my church once told me about a saying used often in his family that has stuck with me. "Be the moon."
We're told by the world to aim to be a star. To shine bright. But that's not the message scripture gives us. Scripture says, "Be the moon." You see, the moon can't shine on it's own. Without the sun it would just float dark in space. But the sun shines on the moon and the moon reflects the sun. The moon shines bright in the dark; not it's own source of light, but a reflection of a greater light.
What a beautiful picture of how God wants to use us.
So brothers and sisters, be a white linen sheet. Be the moon. Reflect the light of the sun.
Reflect the light of the Son.