War Cry (a talk on light by an orthodox rebel)

"Ye are the light of the world...." Matthew 5:14

Nowhere does it say that we light the whole world; it simply says that we are lights. Our presence serves as a counter to the darkness, but it does not entirely negate it. Only one Light will cause complete negation, and He will come again someday. For now, until the blazing dawn of the Sun of Righteousness, we who are mere candlesticks offer a foretaste of glory divine.

It is important to understand that the darkness is just as much a reality as the light; if it wasn't, then our light wouldn't mean anything. To be "the light of the world" does not mean shining in a world of sunny days and rainbows. Rather, it means shining in the midst of the hostile dark, a dark that crawls and writhes and wails in cruel hate and spite against the light. It sees us as unacceptable, a foreign body fit for dispatch. It is a lonely business being the light of this world. We become pilgrims in an unholy land, with our one consolation being that our God is with us. Sunshine Christianity doesn't need Immanuel.

We must not despair at the darkness nor deny its reality and potency. That life as light is a battle should not be our sorrow but our song. "Ye are the light of the world" is not a fair-weather anthem for naive optimists. It is the war cry of the armies of the Lord. The dark walks in fear of it, and it always has (John 1:5).

-Jon Vowell (c) 2010