Matthew 5:14-16 (The Message)
…You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.
God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this,
as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t
think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you
on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop,
on a light stand – shine! Keep open house;
be generous with your lives.
By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up
with God the generous Father in heaven.
Genesis 1:1-5 (The Message)
First this: God created the Heavens and Earth — all you see,
all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness,
a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness.
God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
God spoke: “Light!” And light appeared.
God saw that light was good and separated light from dark.
God named the light Day, he named the dark Night.
It was evening, it was morning — Day One.
Isaiah 42: 6-9 (The Message)
“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
to make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons,
emptying the dark prisons. I am God. That’s my name.
I don’t franchise my glory, don’t endorse the no-god idols.
Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.
I’m announcing the new salvation work.
Before it bursts on the scene, I’m telling you all about it.”
John 8: 12 (The Message)
Jesus spoke to the people once more and said,
“I am the light of the world. If you follow me,
you won’t have to walk in darkness,
because you will have the light that leads to life.”
1 John 1: 5-7 (The Message)
This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ
and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light;
there’s not a trace of darkness in him.
If we claim that we experience a shared life with him
and continue to stumble around in the dark,
we’re obviously lying through out teeth – we’re not living
what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself
being the light, we also experience a shared life with one
another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus,
God’s Son, purges all our sin.