Is Your City Lit?

Is Your City Lit?

1/15/12

Ever consider yourself as big as a city?  Or having as much power as a city has, both in the size of that city and in the influence to other cities around the area?  A city on a hill cannot be hidden, both during the night time hours and during the day.  One city, that does not change its geography but can still effect the environment in both day and night.  A human has a greater authority than a city, because we have the ability to change other people’s surroundings.  Let’s see what happens when we place ourselves as that city and let us look at both scenes and determine if our lighting is correct, appropriate and adequate.

There is a story in the Bible where Jesus talks about us being a light on a hill and how a city on a hill cannot be hidden.  It is common for us to attribute this scene during the dark hours of time, in other terms, at night.  All of us know that this statement is obvious in these conditions, even when storms are in the area the lights of a city can be seen in adverse times.  The lights of a city serve for many reasons that stretch from protection as one is walking home from work to guidance for the traveler on the road that passes through the area.  

The focus of this message is going to be on the daytime and not so much on the nighttime lighting of a city.  In no way I am saying that either of the two conditions is better than the other, but for this message I am going to speak about the importance of the lighting and positioning of the city during the day.

There is a mountain range that is very close to my town and it is called the grand Mesa.  It is actually the world’s tallest flat top mountain and it is a beautiful sight to see when he seasons change.  The mountain does not move at all but the light that shines on the mesa during the daytime hours provides one of the most amazing views that I have known.  The colors on the mountain change as the sun rises in the sky and provides a majestic image of beauty that as one gaze at the mountain can only claim that God could have made such a feat.

As the sun creeps along the side of the mountain the colors seem to change almost minute by minute.  Some parts of the mountain are not in full color but other parts are; a bit later that part that you think is so beautiful has changed and another part takes its place, and then another and then another.  Not all people are going to believe that the area you think is beautiful at that moment in time but may think the other parts are.  The link to this scenario is the light that shines down onto the mountain and how as the moments pass someone in the area will notice a certain thing about that mountain that catches their eye and will take notice.

A city at night is surrounded by darkness and needs to have some type of light illuminating so that people in the area can see where the location of the city is; now apply this concept to our lives.  Darkness always represents the opportunity for bad things to happen.  Throughout history the majority of the crimes human commit are performed at night.  Darkness allows stealth activity to approach the area without being noticed.  So, for this part of the message you can see that having lights provided to others it is important so that we can see the coming attacks.  Lights from a city point the way to safety or guidance to end a long journey home.

A city during the day serves for another purpose.  A purpose that may be even more important at least just as important as the night lights of the city.  As you will guess there are not many lights that are illuminated in the city during this time period.  This too is common knowledge to humans.  The human eye can sharply distinguish the obstacles in their path during the daytime and unless the immediate conditions are severely limited, a person can easily maneuver around without too much difficulty.  The human eye can also focus in on the personal activity of the city and can tell its general functions as the minutes pass.  The human senses can gather almost all of the important information that one needs to predict the cities next move, add this intelligence to the knowledge already accrued by the person before entering into the city and this person has already made a formidable accession of the area.  A city just does not sit there and not project images to the people it comes in contact with.

So why is a city lights so important during the day if the humans who come in contact with this city already can find their way around?  It is not the lighting of the city that is important in this situation it is the light that flows upon the city that is important.  The city is not going to move anywhere and will not change much in a short period of time.  The lights of the city are placed in positions that serve the city to their best possible outputs.  Photographers understand this concept quite well.  If the lighting is not just right the entire picture will not turn out perfect.  Lighting that hits the object that is being photographed is too bright, or it is shining in the wrong direction the entire setting is not appealing to the one that wishes the picture taken.

Which brings us to the question of how does your city look when the sun is shining on it?  Are your actions providing a good reflection to others when in the natural light or is it providing a scene of make believe that others notice while we pretend not to notice.  See, the light that shines on the city during the day is a bright one and allows all of the above situations to play out, it is a light that comes from the sun and hides nothing from others. 

When we take this example and apply it to our lives God becomes the light that shines through our lives and is in turn reflected outwards towards others for them to see.  We are there doing our daily activities and not technically witnessing to others, but in the eyes of others we are.  Their keen sense of sight is set upon us like no other sense, which brings into play their ears and then their mind and eventually their mouths.  All of this occurs because the provided light through us has caught their attention and then become interested, or frightened by what they see.  God’s light will not waiver in its passing.  It is ever present through our lives and will provide answers that people are looking for, what will God’s light show when it passes through you?

I need to have a little caveat about ghost towns.  All of us know that ghost towns were once towns that had life and inhabitants with a thriving community support system in place.  For a multitude of reasons these towns began to die and people left until the entire area was desolate with activity.  These towns still exist and have the light of God shining through them but these towns become useless to society and eventually were forgotten.  It is sad to know that there are many ghost towns that are “thriving” within the church.

I consider people who are not actively participating in God’s mission to be included in the ghost town category.  The ones who sit in the pughs and chairs and do not go and witness to the outside world; they believe that have their ticket punched to heaven and are waiting on God to take them home.  This activity has become very popular in the church and this activity serves as a doorway for Satan to place his ideas into our heads that go contrary to God’s word.  I will go as far to say that this type of activity, or non activity, has placed the church in an inactive and vulnerable place in the world and is now facing scrutiny from its leadership down to the new converts.  This non-activity of the people has reflected a distorted view of God and has turned the eyes of others away from God and has given them no reason to see the beauty of His creation.

None of us are exempt from the ghost town appearance in our lives and I include myself in this category.  All of us have walked by many people in our lives and our city lights have reflected these people away.  God places people into our pathways for a reason and when He allows this event to occur it is a sign that God is in control and that through your actions He is actually speaking to the people that have encountered your light.  Through your actions the door to their lives is open and God will raise questions in these people that someday may ask you to answer.  These silent opportunities occur due to the relationship you have with God and this relationship is supernaturally (spiritually) is transferred to other people’s spirits.  At the same time some of our reflections will give these people with questions the answers that they are not looking for and could provide them with a false idea of the love God has for them.

The sun shining on the city (our lives) represents the Son and His light provides light to others even though we are not verbally witnessing to these people.  The actions that we protrude define this light for these people and allow them to see the city that God so desperately loves and wishes to comfort.  The people that see us come in all shapes and sizes which include close friends, people passing by and family members.  All of us come into contact with people every day that do not know God and have no clue that He wishes to have a relationship with them.  Here is something that you need to keep in mind God is in control of everything that occurs in everything that we can imagine, including personal lives.  I hope that you realize that He can allow people to “bump” into each other for what seems the most unlikely of situations; and can repeat the process as necessary until the reasons are completed.  Let us have our city ready to serve others when God’s light shines through us towards someone else’s direction.

DLB