Few men have witnessed the fiery splendors of heaven as much as those magi who went to look for the King who would one day rule the world. They understood that the heavens do speak of the glory and majesty of the Celestial Being, who ordered the starry host at night to shine their lights and the moon to reflect the light of the sun and give light at night. The entire heavenly host seems to move at the beating of the Unseen Conductor, standing right at it. They had understood the meaning of light or even why it shines and the times and seasons that they vary at night in their position. Each of these stars has once been a part of another bigger star, their composition is the same but they glow differently and give off white glow or massive orange flash.

Not one of these will try to envy the other, whether it is bigger or smaller, but each of them as they are framed and positioned in the invisible canvass, seem to rejoice that they provide light. As long as they are shining above, earth does not have to be dark even at night. Massive amounts of Hydrogen fuel are being converted to Helium to power up their bright light. Nuclear fusion is the normal process to provide warmth and serenity in the dark black sky at night. The unseen hands of the Creator have continually fused the atomic particles of dusts and clouds where new stars are born. For each one that fades into oblivion and stop producing light, another will be born that will take its place.

A candle in the night

I fancied of the glowing embers of the stars as they seem to stay stationery. How does this compare to the servants of God? There are many messengers who shine their light just like the Lord Who is the light of the world. John was one of them and for a short period of time, he glowed brilliantly, so luminous in fact that those who were sitting in the dark saw the glory and were drawn close to God. Even the Lord confirmed the witness of John saying that “He was a burning and a shining light; and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.” The word translated as light here implies a portable lamp or a candle that can be used to lit up other candles or other lamps.

He was not that light, that source of life of men, but he was sent to testify of the Light of the world. As Solomon had previously written, the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord that he uses to expose the darkness in others. Man sharpens another man by the light that he has because he enlightens, encourages and empowers his friend. Jesus is the light of the world that everyone must follow and those who do will have the light that never fades, a light that even if our earthly lives are gone, still shines in the darkness and yet we are still alive in Christ.

Make His paths straight

Are you facing the darkness of times? Do you struggle against the world? Are carnal affections starting to erode your life in Christ? Then it is time to renew your spiritual life. The fastest way to do is to draw close to God who alone cares for your soul and well being. John preached and bore witness of the Light of God, but now, let His penetrating light engage the darkness of your heart and open up before God. Confess your sins to the Lord and to one another and let repentance and cleansing have its way in your heart. This is what it means to make the path of the Lord straight in your life–to level the mountains into valleys, to straighten the crooked ways, to smoothen the rough byways and to fill every valleys and make it plain. Let God take over your life just as you have been controlling it and bringing everywhere without any productive results that bear fruit to eternal life.

Just as the Lord multiplied the two fish and the five loaves of the boy who gave it to Him for the provisions of many, your life and talents when given to the Lord are meant to be shared for the light of many who walk in the dark valleys. God’s provisions are not for us to decide and consume, for man receives nothing unless the Lord has given him, whether this man is a Buddhist, Muslim, Businessman, Atheist, Scientist or Priest or Pastor, they are meant to be shared. Man does not live for himself alone, “no man is an island” as John Donne has expressed better.

Do you have a job that glorifies God? Or do you employ thousands that generate wealth for them? Hear and be blessed, dedicate your service to men to the Lord and like the two fish and the five loaves of the boy, God will use you to provide for even more and bless even greater numbers of people. Democracy and Capitalism is not bad by itself, it is fitting to live in liberty as long as people honors the law. But when the law of the land is bastardized by the few who neither understands the law nor respects it, chaos is the result because the contract of the land and the people is broken. No one can live in peace when no one honors his contract with his neighbor…and the constitution of any modern country today enables us to recognize and honor each other by the law of the land. True liberty does not stifle progress, unless the conceited gains the upper hand of the rulers.

Fruit that lasts

The call for everyone is to bear fruit that lasts, and that this applies not only spiritually but even in our daily lives in the market place. If you are a Christian statesman, teacher, scientist, employer/employee, businessman, farmer or fisherman, there is no difference-we must have the vision of increasing love for our product, increasing product and service quality at the right price. Then there should be no problem for customers because they knew, they are paying for the right amount and for the right quality. Commercialism which has come to mean mass production and of low quality does not have to apply to everyone whose passion is to serve in his utmost for His Highest.

The rewards of those who do so are not only honor, riches and life fulfilled, but above all a clean conscience, contentment and peace that not even money can give. To be a light means to provide understanding, life and sustenance to those who are groping in the dark whether this is in spiritual or emotional bondage, poverty, sickness or disease. Light brings liberty that is founded upon a life of faith because faith believes the unseen, in hope against hope, until God manifests that hope. “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,  having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority” (Colossians 2:6-10).