Recently, I was in a room with a few people. We were engaging in side chats in different clusters until a mother walked into the room with a toddler. She let the toddler loose, and he was roaming around the room freely.
At this time, most people shifted their attention to the young lad, and smiles slowly appeared on their faces. The boy did not do anything special to elicit the attention and smiles. He waltzed around the room and changed the mood in the process without even trying. He was just being himself.
When the Bible states that we are the light of the world, it is not a call to try to “act” as the light of the world. It is a call to live as Christians and just be our Christ-transformed selves. In being ourselves, we light up the world, one room at a time. Just like Jesus did while He walked the earth.
When you turn on the light switch in a dark room, the light fills the room. It does not have to introduce itself as light before we feel the impact. It just performs its function. That’s how our lives should be. There is nothing wrong with introducing ourselves as Christians. However, we should not always have to do that before people know who we are. It should just show in everything that we say and do in every aspect of our lives.
If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples. John 13:35 [CEV]
When we display real brotherly love towards each other and indeed everyone, we don’t have to introduce ourselves as Christians before people know who we are. Love is not in words. It is a way of life. If we live a life of love, the light will show. This might have been what the people at Antioch saw that made them call the disciples Christians for the first time. Their lights glowed, and everyone knew they were different.
After finding Saul, Barnabas brought him back to Antioch. Barnabas and Saul met with the church in Antioch for a whole year and taught a large group of people. The disciples were called Christians for the first time in the city of Antioch. Acts 11:26 [GWT]
Romans 12:1 captures this perfectly in The Message translation:
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Romans 12:1 [MSG]
Everything we do, everywhere we go, at all times, we should live in a way that our lives are sacrifice-worthy unto God. In doing this, we will always keep our lights on. We are called to be the light of the world, but we must start by shining the light in whatever room we find ourselves in.
Let’s go light up the world, one room at a time.