You better watch out.  No, Santa Claus is not coming to town!  Your bed is on fire!  What?   Jesus said that.  Name-dropper!   He spoke clearly about the light that enters our lives, when we come to know Him as our Lord and Savior.  I don’t remember the exact day.  What I do know is that, at a certain moment, I became a child of God.  Jesus says here in Mark chapter 4 that when you have light from a candle, you don’t put it under your bed. That’s dangerous.  Your bed could catch on fire!

A friend gave me a 2000 year old oil lamp from Jerusalem.  It’s a tiny,  baked clay lamp with a small opening where oil could be poured in.  Then you would insert a wick,  so that when lit it would give light to a one-room house.  ‘This little light of mine’ can do the trick.  But the lamp must be put up on something.  You can now see with that tiny lamp.  Scary places cease to be scary.  Like the Bible which lights our paths as a lamp for our footsteps( Psalm 119: 105).  ‘Let it shine.  Let it shine.  Let it shine’.

But do we?  I think mine goes under the bed too much of the time.  Afraid of what others may think of me, instead of wondering what God thinks.   Whose opinion do I care more about?

Recently my wife and I went hiking at Mt Rainier.  It was a gorgeous day.  Not much snow that winter,  so we could hike quite a few miles without tripping, falling and sliding  as we’ve done before!  Bluest of blue skies on this day.  Early summer wildflowers in full bloom.  When we got as high as we were going to hike( shy of the summit!! Very shy…!), we were sitting on a log looking over at Mt Adams and Mt St Helens, when two young men came over and started visiting.  They were travelling from the UK.  We compared notes as my wife and I had spent two months in England that fall.  Nice conversations.  Finally, I couldn’t help myself.   I had to grab my lamp from under the bed!  Had to comment on the cross one of them was wearing, and recommended that they both start reading the New Testament to find out about Jesus.   My bed was NOT on fire!  The mountain didn’t blow its top.  Actually those 2 young men seemed quite interested in what I had recommended!  Felt good to let…Jesus shine!  Let Him shine!

You don’t have to go climb a mountain or do something really weird.  Pray…and ask the Lord to bring people your way to share some of the light of Jesus with them.  Watch… keep alert…and let your light shine…!

Prayer:  Lord, we want to share you with others.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.