It made me think. We Christians are to be light to this dark world (Matthew 5:14). Yes, we are. But can we learn a lesson from the “long-lived light bulb of Livermore”? Oh, yes we can.
God puts us in the places where He wants us (Acts 17:26). That refers to where we live, where we build our church buildings and lot more that we probably don’t give Him credit. Whether I understand this or not, I do know why He has put us here to shine the light. We are the light of the world and we must shine.
One of the reasons put forward as to why the Livermore light bulb keeps on shining is that it never gets turned off. It does nothing but shine 24 hours a day. Now that’s another lesson for us, isn’t it. We have got to stop turning the light of God on and off. We aren’t just lights to the world on Sunday morning. We aren’t just lights when we are around Christians who know us. We are to be lights in the dark places. We are to be lights even when no one knows us.
As a church we must be light to the world. We must stop going through spasms of evangelism during which we turn the light of God on and then after some growth turn it off again. We are to be the witnesses of Christ every single day of every single year that God gives us.
The Livermore light bulb does what it can. It can only shine incandescently. No neon. No fluorescence. We are different. We can shine so many different ways. God puts it this way. “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22). We must shine however we can. It may be in a meal served to the needy . It may be in a good word for Jesus when someone asks what you did on the weekend. It may be in going the extra mile for a neighbor who really irritates you. It may be in an illuminated sign in front of the church building. It may be in an uplifting time of worship. It may be in teaching a Bible class. We aren’t like the Livermore light bulb. We don’t just shine in our fire house. We shine in the whole world that God has given us.
Where do you shine your light? I know we shine everywhere but are there times or places when you consciously to try and make sure you shine your light? Don’t know? That’s okay. Just shine. Shine. Shine.
