Pastor's Blog

“A Light in the World?”

Mathew 5:14-15

14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

If you haven't noticed, Scriptural writers like to use a lot of metaphors in their writing. The books of the Bible are salted and peppered throughout with all kinds of metaphors and many other meanings.

I want to focus on the particular word of metaphor. The definition of the word is as follows according to dictionary.com:

“Metaphor

noun

1. a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in ‘A mighty fortress is our God.’

Compare mixed metaphor, simile (def 1).

2. something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/metaphor?s=t accessed 12.22.2019).

This definition will aid us in our understanding of this scripture. Just to let you know, this scripture is from the beatitudes of Matthew 5. So, these words were part of the wisdom collection from Jesus' sermon on the mount. This is where these words were spoken. This use of light as a metaphor is a way for us to look at our faith. We all understand how light works in the world. It dispels darkness; it opens our eyes to the dark places, so we may see what indeed is going on. We are supposed to be this light according to this scripture. We bring our light into the darkness of the world and share it with our community.

We just had the beginning of winter on December 21, 2019, the shortest day of daylight in a calendar year. Soon after this day, daylight will begin to get longer each day until spring. Did you know that? So how can you increase your light like the sun each day this year starting today?

God and light up the world!

Peace,

Pastor Harvey