James Marshall was a carpenter and sawmill operator in California. On January 24, 1848, while working on the mill and inspecting the channel where water flowed past it, he noticed some shiny flecks in the bed of the channel. Those tiny flecks turned out to be pure gold.
Upon discovering the gold James Marshall gathered a few pieces in his hand, and returning to the mill said, “I have found it!” Soon news of his discovery had spread across the United States and the California Gold Rush was on as people from all over the world packed up their belongings and headed to California in hopes that they too would find this valuable substance and strike it rich.
As a Christian, we have found something FAR more valuable than gold – that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. So, why doesn’t the world beat a path to our door wanting to know more about what we’ve found? Well, a lot of it has to do with the fact that men are sinful by nature, and are seemingly content to dwell in their sin. However, I think a FAR bigger part of the answer is, we as Christians live no different than the rest of the world, so we have nothing that stands out as something people want and seek after.
In Matthew 5:16, Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
We live in a world filled with the darkness of sin. The darkness of pride. The darkness of selfish desires and ambitions. And in order for our light to shine, we MUST be SO CLOSE to Jesus Christ that we reflect the light of His love and mercy towards all who see us.
How do we do that? By living the way He commands us to live – putting Him first in our lives and putting others second. The close we get in our relationship to God, the BRIGHTER our light will shine.
Unfortunately, the world we live in will not most likely beat a path to our door when we shine the light of our Saviour, but many will. Many will want to know what is different about us, and many will come seeking to find what we have found in Jesus Christ.
Is your light shining? I mean REALLY shining? Do you live so close to God that everyone in the world notices you’ve got something different that they don’t have? How many opportunities to shed the light to others do we miss or pass up because we’ve let our light grow dim?
There’s a call comes ringing over the restless wave,
“Send the light! Send the light!”
There are souls to rescue there are souls to save,
Send the light! Send the light!
Send the light, the blessed Gospel light;
Let it shine from shore to shore!
Send the light, the blessed Gospel light;
Let it shine forevermore!