Luke 8-9

Reading for Sunday October 27, 2019
Luke 8-9

Luke 8: 16-18
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.   For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth  to have.
​
1 John 1:6-7 “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

God has worked miracles with the likes of me, a poor wretched sinner.  God is the light in my life, and through my walk with Him, I am saved.  Now, Jesus tells us, that having that light, we should not cover it, but put it on a stand for all to see.  I am on The Path following Jesus, trying to emulate Him, but in reality, I fall way, way short of that.  How do I, a poor wretched sinner, share the light when others see the darkness that is in me and in my past?  Even Jesus, who had lived a perfect life, did not get respect when he preached in His home town of Nazareth.  I am far from perfect, but I am on the right Path.  I don't want people to follow me, nor do I want to follow any other wretched sinner.  I want people to walk with me, side-by-side.  The Path is narrow, but with people on either side of me, it is much more difficult to stray from The Way.  God is light, and the Bible is God's Word.  When we read God's Word, and we have an understanding of it, we need to share that understanding, not cover it.  Everyday I read a section of the Bible and share my thoughts about one passage.  If you peruse around the internet, you will find that many learned people have ideas about the passage.  These ideas rarely line up perfectly with one another.  So, which one is correct?  Which one do we follow?  We don't "follow" any of them.  If we are all walking side-by-side on the path, we accept all ideas, and we reject all ideas.  Only God's Word is perfect.  We read The Bible for ourselves and we "accept" from others what enhances our own understanding, and "reject" that which does not.  Think about how a flame works.  We are able to light someone else's candle without diminishing ours at all.  If our candle goes out, we can accept a light from someone else.  However, everyone with a candle also has breath.  We cannot accept their "hot air" upon our flame, because that extinguishes our light.  
     Read The Bible (he hath lighted a candle).  Share your understanding of a passage (setteth it on a candlestick).  Accept and reject the testimony of others (Take heed therefore how ye hear)