I have a nice looking, sturdy silver flashlight. I have noticed, though, that there must be a bad connection internally. Last night, I had to go outside and check on something around 11:00pm. I pushed the button on my flashlight to turn it on as I walked out the door. It shone brightly. However, as I walked up the steps to where I needed to go, the beam of light went out as I hit the last step, which happened to be the darkest place. It was very dark, so I was a bit uneasy as I walked into an area where there could be creepy-crawly things lurking about, or “land mines” strategically placed by our domestic animals. I pushed the “on/off” button numerous times, but to no avail. I shook and beat the flashlight to try and get the faulty, internal connections to re-connect, but it was useless. I quickly checked on what needed to be done with the help of the light from the screen of my cell phone. As I descended the steps, when I reached the next-to-last step the flashlight came back on and beamed brightly. It was frustrating to me that the flashlight seemed to work fine in the light, but refused to shine in the darkness.
That reminded me of some Christians that can shine brightly at church on Sundays, and perhaps even on Wednesday nights at prayer meeting. However, during the rest of the week when they are walking in a lost and dark world, they refuse to shine when they are needed the most! The reason that those Christians don’t shine in the darkness is because they have a “faulty, internal” problem – a problem with their heart.
Christian friend, at church on Sundays, we love to greet you, see your smiling face, shake your hand, and hug you. We know you, we know you’re saved, and we appreciate that you let your light shine at church, but there’s already light inside the church house. However, it’s on Monday when you go to school, or work, or to the grocery store, or hang out with other “soccer moms” when your light needs to shine brightly where there is no light.
Just like my faulty flashlight that is not much good when I needed it the most, neither is a Christian that doesn’t shine for Jesus in this dark world. Get the faulty connection fixed in your heart so that Jesus can shine through you, and then you can “let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!”