The Light That Has Lighted The World.10

"That which you do in secret will eventually be revealed, and that which seems to be hidden will one day be broadcast far and wide. 

What I am telling you now in private, proclaim publicly, and what you hear whispered by the Spirit, shout aloud from the housetops." 

--Jesus

Image from hypeline.org

"The tales of heartlessness and ingratitude one must come across, compel one to see more and more clearly that humanity, without willed effort after righteousness, is mean enough to sink to any depth of disgrace. The judgments also of imagined superiority are hard to bear."


God is a God who reveals.  There is NOTHING hidden that cannot and will not be exposed by the light of truth. Recent events in the USA demonstrate the futility of trying to hide nefarious activity.  Asange, Snowden, Anonymous - the watchers are out there ready and willing to bring questionable actions out of the shadows and fog of concealment to the light of popular judgement.  The question then: is popular judgement guided by light or darkness? 

Followers of Jesus have a threefold responsibility to the Light:

First: Duty
   --to expose works of darkness to the light

...beginning with ourselves. 

The question: am I more or less of the light? Test yourself:

• Is my conscience clear as the open heavens?
• Is my heart pure and clean that I have no fear of the penetrating gaze of God, men and angels?
• Do I so love the truth and the right, that I submit to an exposure of what in me is yet unknown to myself--an exposure that, by making me ashamed and humble, may bring glory to the truth?
• Will I welcome any discovery, even if it work for the excuse of others, that will make me more true, by revealing what in me is false?
• Am I willing to be made glad that I was wrong when I thought others were wrong?

"If you can with such submission face the revelation of things hid, then you are of the truth, and need not be afraid; for, whatever comes, it will and can only make you more true and humble and pure."

'Will all my weaknesses, all my evil habits, all my pettinesses, all the wrong thoughts which I cannot help--will all be set out before the universe?' Yes, if they so prevail as to constitute your character--that is, if they are you.

But if you have come out of the darkness, if you are fighting it, if you are honestly trying to walk in the light, you may hope in God your father that what he has cured, what he is curing, what he has forgiven, will be heard of no more, not now being a constituent part of you.

Or if indeed some of your evil things must yet be seen, the truth of them will be seen--that they are things you are at strife with, not things you are cherishing and brooding over.

God will be fair to you--so fair!--fair with the fairness of a father loving his own--who will have you clean, who will neither spare you any needful shame, nor leave you exposed to any that is not needful.

We may trust God with our past as heartily as with our future. It will not hurt us so long as we do not try to hide things, so long as we are ready to bow our heads in hearty shame where it is fit we should be ashamed.

For to be ashamed is a holy and blessed thing.

• Shame is a thing to shame only those who want to appear or feel good, not those who want to be good. 
• Shame is to shame those who want to pass their examination, not those who would be transformed to the core of their being. 

In the name of God let us henceforth have nothing to be ashamed of, and be ready to meet any shame on its way to meet us. For to be humbly ashamed is to be plunged in the cleansing bath of the truth.

Humble, Spirit-led examination produces cleansing and confidence that our judgment is sure! That what we mean by light is what God means by light.  That calling out hypocrisy because it is rooted in fearfulness and self-love, denying the Perfecting Love of Jesus, requires Oneness with the mind and heart of God. 

"Therefore this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them." Jeremiah 15:19

Second: Exposure
--to remonstrate against the destructiveness of sin and evil.

I have been initiated into the company of those whose work is to rid the world of sin and evil. Living a life of obedience to Jesus results in His light in us exposing bad actions and attitudes in others. 

• Excellent workmanship exposes slothfulness.  
• Truth telling exposes duplicity.  
• Honesty exposes corruption. 
• Purity exposes debauchery.
• Compassion exposes wantonness.
• Forgiveness exposes bitterness.
• Joy exposes emptiness.
• Contentment exposes coveting.
• Love exposes licentiousness.
• Peace exposes anxiety.
• Obedience exposes unbelief.
• Kindness exposes rudeness.
• Gentleness exposes cruelty.
• Goodness exposes depravity.
• Wisdom exposes profanity.

The response to the pain of exposure includes shunning, denial, indifference, attacks, repentance, salvation and freedom.

Third: Fearlessness   --to proclaim from the housetops the light in us.

"While men count themselves Christians on any other ground than that they are slaves of Jesus Christ, the children of God, and free from themselves, so long will they use the servants of the Master despitefully. 'Do not hesitate,' says the Lord, 'to speak the truth that is in you; never mind what they call you; proclaim from the housetop; fear nobody.'

Think what it must be for a man counting himself "a good person", religious, orthodox, exemplary, to perceive suddenly that there was no religion in him, only love of self; no love of the right, only a great love of being in the right!

What a discovery--that he was simply a hypocrite--one who loved to appear, and was not! 

Whose faith does your neighbor benefit most from?  Is it not from the faith of the one whose obedience to the Lord of Light, Life and Love serves, through word and deed, to expose how desperately short they fall to the potential for which they were created, the reason for their existence?

Only be strong and courageous follower of Jesus in living out the light in you!  The world needs you more than ever!

Adapted from The Final Unmasking by MacDonald, George. Unspoken Sermons Series III. (Kindle Locations 6011-6019). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.