What does it mean to be a light in a dark world? To shine bright when the shadows of sin and pain seem to envelope at every turn. Knowing myself, sometimes the darkness feels too big to withstand. The darkness seems to constantly hover, and I don't know how to be the light the world needs. But that's where my view of myself is misguided. I'm not the light the world needs. I'm just a small light bulb. My light only exists because I'm attached to the main light source. My light points to a greater light. KNOW THE LIGHT In order to be a light, you must know the Light. God is light and in Him, there is no darkness. To know God is to walk in the light. If we claim to know God and still walk in darkness, we are not living in truth. But, to know God; to know truth; and to be in the light is to live like Jesus (1 John 1:5-10). We are born sinful and full of darkness, but God being rich in mercy gave us newness of life (Ephesians 2:4-5). When we repent of our rebellious state and turn to God, we are brought from darkness into the light. From death to life, we were raised and now walk in new life. To know the Light is to be a light. A light that shines bright and points back to the true Light. SPREAD THE LIGHT Then, what does it mean to spread the light? Well, if the Light of the World is Jesus, then we spread Jesus. In John 1:1, we see that before the world ever existed, the Word was with God. Not only was the Word with God, but it was through Him that all things were made. And in Him (the Word), was life and light to all of mankind. And if you go down a few more verses, you see that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (v. 14). So, to spread the light means to spread Jesus. And since Jesus is the Word, then that means in order to be a light in the dark world, we must spread the Word of God. The only way that hearts are changed, and wicked people are brought out of darkness is through the understanding of truth. To spread the Light is to spread truth. LIVE THE LIGHT And wouldn't ya know, I couldn't leave this last one out. If we want to be a light through knowing the Light and spreading the Light, we must also be obedient to the Light. If I were to tell you that smoking is bad for you and you should stop right away, all while smoking a cigarette … wouldn't you be hesitant to listen to me? You would look at me and immediately identify me as a hypocrite. The same goes here. If we want people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, but we ourselves don't "live in the knowledge of His Word" or "we are all liars and truth is not in us." We can't expect people to take us seriously if we don't live out the very thing we're promoting. In order to spread the good news of Jesus, we must first live in the good news of Jesus which means being obedient to the Word. This world is overwhelming and scary. But we are not standing in the darkness alone. And that's great to hear because I'm very afraid of the dark. We have the Light of the World that brings light and life to our hearts so that we can shine bright. It's through Jesus that we can shine in a dark world. by Emily Rico