This past Saturday, my daughter and the Germantown High School Band competed for a state title.  They came in second, and I was very proud of her, and of them.  I didn’t get to see many of other the bands perform, I was on pushing duty, pushing our props to the field to be set up.  There was one band that I saw perform, and I really liked their show.  It was about Mississippi, very creative.

But I what I liked the most about it was at the end, the entire bad grouped together in the middle of the field and started playing “This Little Light of Mine,” and they were so into it, it was infectious, that the entire stands started singing along with them.

It was very cool, to see and hear everyone singing that song together.  I thought about that this morning when I read the passage that song comes from, Luke 11: 33-35:

33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar,but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness.

We sometimes live in a world that feels really dark.  Really dark.  I don’t know about you, but each night when I turn on the news, or scroll through my newsfeed, or pull up Twitter, I can almost feel the darkness pulling at my soul.  It just feels dark, all around us.  Everyday.  And every day it seems to be getting darker.  It seems as though darkness is becoming the norm, and we should just surrender to it.

But we cannot, we must not.  No one lights a lamp and hides it.  They put it on the stand for all the world to see.  That light must shine. That darkness must be driven out.  It must be and it will be. Because light drives out darkness. That is the way that light works.

Today, you are the light.  You are the city on the hill.  You are the salt of the earth.  The darkness must be driven out, and the LORD wants to use us, me, you, the church, Christians to do just that.  Don’t hide your light.  Don’t.

Shine your light for all to see.  In a world that is hard and harsh, Christians, we must shine that light.  Don’t give into the darkness of the world.  And don’t give into the darkness that lay within each of us.  Notice that’s where our light comes from. The Holy Spirit, within each of us as believers.

But we can tamp down the light of the spirit. But not allowing the Spirit to work within us.  By thinking the worst of each other.  By not loving each other. By not prioritizing our walk with Jesus.  By just giving up.

Sometimes it isn’t just that we are afraid of the darkness in the world.  We are afraid of what the darkness may do to us.

Don’t give up!  Your light will shine.  Through you, Jesus can change your world today.  Through Jesus you can be light.  You can change others.

Don’t give up.  Don’t allow the darkness to believe, for even one second, that it will win.  Light always wins.  Light always drives out the darkness.  I know it feels dark today.  But the darkness will not win.

Shine your light, today.  This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.  I, Andy Stoddard, am going to do that today.  Will you join me?  In your actions, in your words, on Facebook, online, everywhere, will you let your light shine today?

Today, we can drive out the darkness.

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