At least once in each person's life, there has been a lamp that had a problem with the cord and the lamp would come on and go off again. Then it would flicker and come back on and go back off. It blinks on and off, on and off the cycle continued until either the cord was fixed or the lamp was thrown away. The lamp itself was not the problem, it was the cord. The connection of the cord was broken from the power source causing the light to go off. We call this "a short in the cord". It is annoying, frustrating and can be dangerous. The lamp may be pretty to look at and it may match our decor perfectly, but if the cord has a short in it, and the lamp is undependable, then it is of no use. It simply looks pretty, taking up space and needing an occasional dusting. When darkness falls and light is needed, the lamp can not be trusted.
"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." (Matthew 5:14).
Jesus told us that we are to be the light of this world. This world is stumbling in spiritual darkness and most of them do not even notice it. We can navigate through our house in the dark at night; going to the kitchen for a drink of water or going to the restroom. We have learned the pathway through the house and often times, we don't need a light on. This is how the world goes in darkness and doesn't realize it. They have become used to the dark. The enemy of their soul has them blinded to any light source that would come into their lives. Just as natural light exposes things that were hidden in the darkness, when we as Christians shine forth the light of Jesus, that light exposes things in them. They will either ignore, make excuses, get angry, or change. We are not responsible for how they react to the light, we are just to shine that light and let God deal with them.
Just as that natural lamp with a short in the cord is ineffective, annoying and dangerous, we as Christians with a short in our power cord, are equally as ineffective, annoying and dangerous. If the world sees us serving Jesus one day, and the next day we are living like the world, then the next day, we are quoting the Bible to them, and the next day we are doing the things of the world, and so on, we are ineffective in reaching souls for the Lord. The world will not listen to us, they will not believe us, and they will not trust us. We cannot be different in one group of people than we are in other groups. We should be consistent and dependable; just like we expect that lamp to be. When we first begin to notice a flicker in the light (no joy, no desire to witness, pray or study the Bible, compromise with the world), we should immediately check and make sure we are properly connected to the Power Source (the Holy Spirit).
God is looking for consistency, trustworthiness and dependability. It is dangerous to be inconsistent; not only for us but for others. If they see that inconsistency in us, then that sends them a false hope that they too can be inconsistent and it will be alright. This is not true.
"So then because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:16).
Jesus was talking to the Laodiceans. He was telling them that they were neither cold (disobedient, unbelieving, and neglectful), or hot (doing all they knew to do for the Lord in total obedience). They were inconsistent. They were compromising by being lukewarm. They weren't reaching anyone for the kingdom of God, they weren't obeying God, they were just merely existing. He said He would spew them (spit) out of His mouth. In other words, the lukewarmness sickens Him. He is the same today. Our lukewarmness sickens Him. It's time to turn the light on, leave it on so that others may find their way to Christ.
Is your light on? Is it on all the time no matter who you are around? Is it on no matter what is going on around you? What about it? The world is watching us. They know if we are who we say we are all the time or not. They know if we truly live it or not. They know if we are consistent and trustworthy. They also know if we are hypocrites!
Let us determine in our hearts today, that we will not allow any short in our chord, our light won't blink on and off and we will stay connected to the power source.
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