Am I being courageous to share the word of God and my testimony, so others can see the light?

33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light."

INSIGHT:  In this context, we are the lamp because Jesus has lit us with His word and His Spirit.  Some say, “My religion is personal, I don’t talk about God out loud to folks…I keep it to myself.”  That way of thinking violates this very teaching of Christ, and His teaching about acknowledging or disowning Him before people, in Mat 10:32.  Let me remind you that my 2nd spouse, just months after we were married in a marriage that only God could have done, stopped wanting to publicly acknowledge our marriage, and then eventually me as her husband.  She was taking this bright lamp of God’s providence and faithfulness in the testimony of our marriage, and she was putting it where it would be hidden, showing contempt for what God had done. This was surely her first step toward what became full blown apostasy and rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord, and then me as her husband.  The word of God and testimonies have power and can drive out darkness in someone’s life and penetrate their heart, but not if we don’t know it, or share it.  We are to be children of the light.  Don’t hide His word or your testimony, unless it is in accord to another of His principles, not to do so, like Mat 7:6 or Mat 10:14, etc. 

One time my friend and I were leaving his office (the one I lived in while I was homeless and wrote this devotional), and we ran into his eighty-year-old landlord in the lobby of his law firm.  He began talking to my friend (his tenant) about his “GD golf swing, his GD this, his GD that.”  His secretary was also listening as he continued talking trashy.  At one point he mentioned he had cancer and then I felt the prompting, “Offer to pray for him.”  I waited for my chance and said, “Tell me more about your cancer…are you scared?”  I listened and then explained I’m a man of deep faith and have seen God do amazing things and that I would like to pray for him.  He agreed andwe all bowed our heads right there, and I prayed.  He came up from the prayer looking and sounding like a completely different man.  He looked at my friend and said, “I’m humiliated… you never told me this was a man of God standing here while I’m talking all of this trash…now I feel ashamed.”  This amazed both me and my friend.  Days later, my friend ran into him in the parking lot and the man brought up God and his interest in thinking more about the teachings of Jesus Christ.  He died of his cancer soon after, and I don’t know if He was saved or not, but at least He was given another chance to see the light before He stood before Jesus.

Ironically, now in 2024, in what seems to be a contradiction to this teaching (another evidence we must be led of the Spirit Gal 5:25), Lisa and I believe God has been leading us to shut our mouths sooner.  Over the last year, He allowed us to suffer many consecutive blows after our confession of the true Jesus Christ or His teachings.  People don’t have a problem with the counterfeit Christs, just the real One.  We saw such consistent unkind treatment from unbelievers and professing Christians, that I knew He was teaching us something.  One day I was led to Amos 5:13 NLT “Those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.” Nine years ago, the Lord began warning through me that the time was short to get right with Him.  Jesus predicted the time would come when the love of most would grow cold (Mat 24:12), that we could no longer work because night was coming (Jn 9:4), and that men would no longer able to change from bad to good (Rev 22:11). Paul predicted the times when men would no longer tolerate sound doctrines, and they would love everything except God (2 Tim 3:1-5), and they would go from bad to worse (2 Tim 3:13).   This may not be the case where you live, but for us, we believe hearts are growing harder and colder, and the darkness is rapidly increasing, to the point where we are now having to be even more on guard against all men.  Let us never deny Christ if asked, but may He grant us wisdom for our times and places regarding if, when, and how to best share the light of Christ with others. There are much worse days ahead, but such are the days He appointed us all to live in (Acts 17:6), and we can trust Him in them.