You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

Matthew 5:14-15

Most of us learned at a young age that we had the power to start a fire using the sun, a small mirror, and a pile of dry leaves and twigs. We discovered that if we positioned a mirror just right, the intense ray of the sun would reflect off the glass and spark the dry leaves. With a little encouragement and the right materials, the tiny embers would become a campfire. But with the power of the wind, that small fire could easily become an uncontrolled blaze that could spread rapidly. 

We believers must be mirrors! We must reflect the intense light of Jesus wherever we go. It has the power to ignite hope and love and life! Only through Him can we spark something incredible, because we have no light source of our own. Though we desperately try to shine our own light and draw others to us, we simply cannot shine authentically if we are doing if for our own purposes. But if we position ourselves in the lives of others and lovingly kindle relationships of trust, we can encourage that same light to spark in their hearts, too. Then with the power of the Holy Spirit, the tiny sparks we nurture can become blazes of truth that spread rapidly and reach countless others. 

The light of Jesus is too powerful to keep contained within you, and it was never meant to be hidden. The Creator of light Himself is within you, but the intensity with which He shines forth is up to you. Jesus wants you to reflect all that He is into this world with an authenticity and a passion that will ignite hope in the lives of others. You can keep His light hidden within you where it benefits only you, or you can lovingly and obediently reflect that light and allow the Holy Spirit to fan those embers into unrestrained flames of faith. Choose wisely, burn brightly, and go shine like crazy! You are deeply loved!