Optimist Roundtable

By Martha Sykes

In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 5:13-16, Jesus is telling his disciples and us that we are the light of the world. We shouldn’t leave, give up on, or hide from our world, or complain about our world, but light up our world. if we’re not happy with something, if something seems too dark, we need to spread our light that Jesus gives us. We need to take our light to the darkest corners, to where Jesus is little known or even honored a little. In verse 15 in this passage, the prayer is that God wants us to be in the world for Him. That’s not always easy, but challenging for us because we aren’t used to doing witnessing the way we should.

If we just read the gospel of John 17:6-19, where Jesus prays, as though we are the disciples, we can understand more of what Jesus is asking of God as He prays. He is asking God to protect us because we are from Him. In verse 11, He asks God that we all be together in harmony and love as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are united. This was Jesus his greatest desire for his disciples, that they would become one. He wanted them, and one sauce, to be unified as a powerful witness to the reality of God‘s love. We can, as we always do, pray for others, encourage one another, work together give our time and talents and try not to hide in the darkness. God wants us to be joyful, but to have that immeasurable joy, we need to continue to have that personal relationship with Jesus. When we do, we will experience God special care and protection and see the victory God brings even when defeat seems certain.

There are many things in our world today that seems so dark. Whether it be in our communities, our schools, our places of work, the media, our churches, or our world, if we look we do see darkness. But we don’t need to hide in the darkness, or be comfortable in whatever situation. We need to be a beacon of light in the darkness, and don’t be of this world.

What Jesus wants is for us to be in the world and to spread His love through the way we shine our light wherever we are, for Him.