This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shiiiiine.
Show of hands, y’all, how many of us grew up singing this song in Sunday School?
If I had to guess, I’d say a majority of us did. And if you didn’t, I’m sure you know the words and the tune. (Even lyric losers like me know those lyrics!) Sure, when you get a bunch of kids together singing it, it does sound a little too much like a kid’s song. But, have you ever stopped to consider why our Sunday School teachers taught us this song back in the day?
No, it’s not because it’s an easy song to learn. The easiness of it certainly does help, though, and it makes it easy to recall, even after years of not hearing it sung.
We were taught the song because it is a song with a deep meaning that we all need to be reminded of on occasion. Sometimes, it’s the simplest things that make a profound statement and leave a lasting impact.
Hide it under a bushel, no!
Back when I was a kid, I always imagined the light the song referred to as being a candle. I’m pretty sure my sweet mother had to explain to me that a “bushel” was really referring to a basket. Even with that new information, I still didn’t understand. Why on earth would anyone put a candle under a basket? You can’t see it under a basket!
It took Kid Cassie longer than she’d care to admit before she realized that not being able to see the candle under the basket was precisely the point. Duh. If you cover the light, you dull the shine.
All throughout the Bible, there are many, many scriptures that discuss the light. 1 Thessalonians 5:5 tells us Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we step out of the darkness and into the light. And just like Moses on the mountain with God, the longer we stay in the presence of the Light, the brighter we will shine.
It’s hard to dull a shine that only comes from the Son.
Don’t let Satan Blow it out.
But, that’s exactly what Satan wants. He wants to dull our shine. If it were up to Satan, he’d have all our lights hidden under a basket.
Why? Because it’s our Christian duty to shine brightly and be a beacon in the night for others. There is a passage in Psalms 119 that says Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. When we speak God’s word to others, we are lighting a path for someone else’s feet— a path to the cross. When we read God’s word, we’re lighting a path for our own feet.
Sure, the devil is going to pull every trick that he can to blow out our light, the Bible plainly tells us that. The enemy is going to blow in a storm in hopes of getting us down and pulling us back into the darkness. But if we hold tight to Jesus during trials and life’s storms and become just plain stubborn and determined not to let go, it won’t happen.
The light that you are shining is needed. The storm you just weathered and the testimony you got from those trials make your light shine brighter than ever.
Let it shine til Jesus comes.
It’s no secret that we are living in some very dark days. A quick glance at the trending topics on social media makes it seem like the days get darker by the minute. This is precisely why we need to shine our light brighter than ever before.
If we want to see our people get saved and come to know Jesus, we cannot be hiding our lights under a bushel and we surely cannot let Satan blow it out. We HAVE to let it shine til Jesus comes. There is hope in these dark days, we just have to let it shine.
Shine bright, friends!
Thoughts?