John Mellancamp has a song called Now More Than Ever, and it is also a phrase we have been hearing in commercials of late. “Now, more than ever you need financial security, health care, home insurance, etc.” I’m left wondering, “Why now?” We read daily of fraud, political unrest, leader unreliability and infidelity, domestic violence, crime, and more negative news. In this context, now, more than ever, Christians need to be the light that they should be.
Time and again in God’s word, we see times when His people needed to rise to the occasion more than ever – people like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, and others. It is the immediate present, however, in which we feel the most urgency, and we see the need of now, more than ever. How can I make an impact, though, against such an overwhelming amount of wrongness in this world?
In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls those who follow Him the salt of the earth and the light of the world. He likens them to a city on a hill and a lamp to guide those around us. We have a tendency to resist making waves. We want to fly under the radar, but Jesus asks what good we are if we are salt that has lost its flavor. The world will never know any other way if we are hiding our lights among the bushes.
Galatians 6:10 encourages us to do good before all, and Philippians 2:14-15 calls on us to live blamelessly, living as lights to those around us. We have multiple opportunities every day to reflect holiness and godliness. We have to be willing to share God’s goodness with those around us if we want to help the world to be a better place. Right now, murder, violence, abuse, and fraud are typical. Now, more than ever, we have the power to help these things become untypical.
lesson by Tim Smelser
