The Lamp on the table

Being a Christian isnt always convenient. It isn't always easy. If being immensely popular with everyone you meet is something that means a heck of a lot to you, then you probably won’t accomplish this by telling everyone how good your God is. If you want to be known as cool, if glowing admiration from your peers is what helps you sleep well at night, then maybe being open about your Christianity will give you sleepless nights. Because in the world we live in today, people are usually uncomfortable around anyone who is perceived as being “too good”. You could be stereotyped as a person who thinks he/she is perfect, or a person who is always trying to preach to everyone else. Are you willing to deal with this? Let’s continue…

It doesn’t stop there, however. If you’re open about your Christianity some people may choose not to deal with you. If you’re a young lady, an attractive male interest might think that he’s better off trying his luck with someone less prude, or someone who is less of a challenge. And if you’re a male who is interested in someone, your goodness and honesty might not present enough of a challenge to the people you meet. The ramifications are dynamic and far reaching into every facet of life touched by human interaction, and I dare not attempt to cover them all. But I must ask once more: Are you willing to deal with these consequences? I hope so.

Our lord Jesus Christ was familiar with the phenomenon where Christian people all of a sudden dim down their Christianity in the presence of others. He called it the lamp under the table, because he asked whether we light a lamp and place it under the table. Should we not place it upon the table so that it can illuminate the surroundings with its light? So also it should be with us because we are his ambassadors on earth.

I think that a big turning point in my life occurred when I decided that I would actually make a conscious effort to stop hiding or toning down my Christianity in order to fit in, or to make people more comfortable. Because this thing called our Salvation ought to be as important to us as we say it is. We cannot just pay lip service to it on Sundays, or on different occasions, but shy away from or all of a sudden forget it when we interact with people. As Christians we profess that Christ dying on the cross for our sins is the best things that ever happened to us, but when we look around us we see that most of the people we come across are oblivious to this truth. On some level, it ought to break our hearts; it ought to make us want to show people how liberating it is to surrender to God. Not by shoving a bible in people’s faces and telling them they are going to hell if they don’t change their ways. Not by imposing our own views upon others. But simply by being ourselves.

Everyone has their own style; their own way of being if you will. You can keep your lamp shinning on the table by just being the good Christian person that you are, even in the worldliest places. You can keep your lamp shinning on the table by not backing away from your Christianity when you are put to the test. If God blesses you and you feel the need to express it to someone, do so without reservation, God deserves that much.

The bible tells us not to be ignorant of the devices of the devil. He will try to at times make you embarrassed by your faith. Jesus says that whoever acknowledges him on earth he will acknowledge before his father, actually I think we should try to do as much acknowledging of God as we can, while we can.

A little while ago I was thinking about a phrase that I came up with. It had to do with compromising. Perhaps I’d recently come across some very uncompromising people who I was unhappy with, and I thought about how people should never be too strong headed to compromise at least on some level or to seek a middle ground with others. So I said “There are very few things in this life that you should be uncompromising about and even those should be revisited from time to time”. I thought it was a good saying, now I’m not so sure. Our Christianity is something that we should never compromise or think about compromising. There is too much at stake. The bible has already told us that the lord says “Out of my mouth I will spit out the lukewarm”. There’s no room in heaven for part-time Christians.

In conclusion, I will encourage you all not to shy away from your faith, but to embrace it. God’s love for us is something to be humbled by, it is something to be proud of. If we are ever ridiculed, slighted, perceived as weird, or suffer any kind of maltreatment as a result of embracing our faith, then we can be certain that God’s blessings on us will be all the more awe inspiring, because we suffered these hardships to the glory of his name!

PSALM 1 verses 1-3

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
Or stand in the way of sinner, or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord
And on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruits in season and whose leaf does not wither
Whatever he does prospers.