Light It Up

Read This Week: Mark 4

He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” – Mark 4:21-25 NIV

Just as we saw in Matthew, Jesus uses parables in Mark as a way to teach spiritual lessons to His followers and the crowds. This chapter contains four parables that hold so many eternal truths and principles relevant to our understanding of the kingdom of God and its application to our daily lives. The earthly story with a heavenly meaning highlighted this week is the lampstand in verses 21-25.

In this parable, Jesus uses a lamp that was common and familiar back then and is still pertinent to us today. We all have lamps in our houses and, we know the importance of light to our lives, activities, and ability to see; we are conscious of how vital that light is to our well-being. The Lord used this concept to communicate the prominence with which the spiritual light in believers should be on display. Jesus says in verse 21:

“Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?”

The lamp in this passage is in reference to the kingdom of God established in Mark 1:15 and spoken of at the beginning of this chapter (v 1-8). Jesus designates the proper platform for the kingdom and the witness of the gospel and says it is to be displayed prominently. Followers of Jesus are like the lamp called to reveal God’s light and illuminate His truth wherever they go. Christians are to be filled and replenished by the Bible like oil in a lamp. This filling increases the lighting strength and causes it to shine brighter wherever shown.  

Lighting a lamp and then covering it up does not make sense. Not only does it defeat the point of the lamp to give light, but it is also wasteful of the fuel used to light it. To have the light of Christ inside of us and to withhold it undermines its transcendent purpose. God has done His supernatural work in us for the evidence of it to be in sight. It is too glorious, beautiful, luminous, and eternally beneficial for us to hide it under the bed or keep it from a dark world and those in desperate need of the gospel.

May the Holy Spirit give us the power and confidence to not allow fear and perceived consequences to cause us to hide our light. May we find encouragement and strength from the Word to light up every relationship, circumstance, workplace, neighborhood, and environment that we inhabit. May the light of our actions and words burnish the salvation of the gospel and the love, joy, peace, and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

14 Comments

  1. Ken on December 7, 2021 at 5:30 pm

    May we be bold and courageous, and let this light of ours shine. If not us, Who? If not now, when?

    • Jason on December 14, 2021 at 8:24 pm

      I agree wholeheartedly with your exhortation, Ken. I pray God will give us the strength and courage to shine bright in the darkest of places and take advantage of every opportunity He affords us to share His love.

  2. Heidi on December 9, 2021 at 9:59 am

    The song for today is called Willing Heart by Kelly Willard. This is a great song that goes with having a teachable heart and being willing to listen to God. Here are the lyrics. Enjoy.

    Once I stumbled in the darkness doing only as I pleased,
    But I wasn’t really happy, and my heart was not at ease.
    I just didn’t have the willingness to follow His commands,
    ‘Til I laid my heart completely in His hands.

    If you don’t have a willing heart, ask Him to give you one.
    If you can’t seem to make a start, trust in His power.
    For the Lord of Love is watching you,
    He sees what you’re going through,
    And He can make a way, if you want Him to.
    Oh, do you want Him to? Then, tell Him so.

    All the things my heart held onto only filled me with despair,
    And the road that I was traveling never took me anywhere.
    And I knew no satisfaction ‘til I found my rest in Him,
    Then He filled my heart with gladness once again.

    Listen here: https://youtu.be/EnaU_0LkME0

    • Jason on December 14, 2021 at 8:29 pm

      My goodness, this is a beautiful and powerful song, Heidi. This really hit home to me personally:

      But I wasn’t really happy, and my heart was not at ease.
      I just didn’t have the willingness to follow His commands,
      ‘Til I laid my heart completely in His hands.
      If you don’t have a willing heart, ask Him to give you one.

      I want to seek and ask God for a willing heart even when I am not at ease and feel like I can’t do it. As the song said, I know He will give me one.

      • Heidi on December 17, 2021 at 8:45 am

        Thank you Jason for all that you do. Me too, I want to have a willing heart every day for Jesus in all that I do.

        Thank you, God, that You made a way for us so we can. We love you!

        • Jason on December 20, 2021 at 1:27 pm

          Thank you, Heidi! And I want the same for my life and am thankful to God that He has indeed made a way for us to live on mission and with purpose every day.

  3. Alma on December 11, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    This week, God gave me a song from Matthew 4 called, “Today is the Day”:

    Today is a new day, today is a new day
    Today and every day we get to start it with Jesus.

    We are his light shining bright
    His strength will lift us up.

    Let’s trust rely on our Lord even through the storms
    Even though the storms, our Lord will give us his peace.

    So let’s stand together being a bright light for those in need
    Helping each other become closer to our Lord.

    Yes, today is a new day
    Today is a new beginning with our Lord
    Let’s spread His love. Amen.

    We should be thankful because our God is amazing and loves us so much. He will give us his peace, hope, and love.

    • Jason on December 14, 2021 at 9:26 pm

      I love this song, Alma. It has such a hopeful message about our life with God every day. These lyrics were my favorite this week:

      Today is a new day, today is a new day
      Today and every day we get to start it with Jesus.

      We are his light shining bright
      His strength will lift us up.

      Thank you for this uplifting and encouraging reminder about the light of God shining in and through us each and every day.

  4. Heidi on December 12, 2021 at 8:29 am

    Mark 4:10 says, As soon as He was alone, those who were around Him, together with the twelve [disciples], began asking Him about [the interpretation of] the parables. 11 He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you [who have teachable hearts].

    This is what I see as the definition of teachable:

    1. Being capable of being taught
    2. Being apt and willing to learn
    3. Being favorable to teaching

    Being teachable is so important. Every day is a new day to be asking Father God, Jesus, and His Holy Spirit to help us because it’s important to remain teachable to stay useable. Be willing and be listening to Father God. Remember God is with you to help you always.

    I learned from my Pastor to be FAT- Faithful, Available, and Teachable/Trainable. It can be difficult when someone comes and tells you what you need to work on.

    For me, many years ago when I knew in my heart I wanted to serve Him, learning from my pastor, my husband, and others that God gave me that was a part of my journey through the process of studying, learning, and growing. I’m so thankful for all the help God gave me and continues to bless me with.

    So remember you’re always learning no matter how old you are in the flesh. All you have to do is ask!

    • Jason on December 15, 2021 at 10:40 am

      I just always appreciate it and am tremendously blessed every time God speaks through you about teachability and being willing to submit to God and grow, Heidi. It is a message that we all need to hear on a constant basis. I loved the progression of teachability that you laid out:

      Being capable of, being apt and willing, and being favorable to teaching.

      These 3 principles, if embraced by us on a regular basis, would lead to exponential spiritual growth in our lives and would, in turn, lead to greater service, love, and impact on others for the glory of God. May the Holy Spirit give us all the capability, aptitude, and willingness to be more teachable.

  5. Kathy on December 13, 2021 at 3:49 pm

    This is what God was saying to me in this chapter. In teaching by parables, Jesus offered His hearers the opportunity to dig deep and find the truth. This is what I want you to do. In reading and studying My word, I want you to dig deep and find the truth. My word is like a seed. It gets planted in your heart, and then has the potential to bear fruit. The kind of soil the seeds land on makes all the difference. By preaching, the seed is sown. If you don’t sow it, nothing will grow.

    It is important that you allow room for the seed of the word, in your life. The enemy does not want My word to take root in your heart. He does not want you to be fruitful for Me. Hard hearts must be plowed up, to receive the seed. You may begin with a favorable action to My word, but then give it up too quickly, when it becomes difficult to follow Jesus The ground may be too fertile. My word grows there but so does everything else, which begins to crowd out My word. It is important that you hear My word, accept it, and bear fruit that fulfills the purpose of the seed. I promise that the truth will be revealed. You must not hide the light; you must spread the truth. I will respond to you, as you have responded to Me and My word.

    What this said to me is It is important that I dig deep and find the truth in God’s word. It is important that I allow the seed to be sown in my heart. I don’t want my heart to be hardened to where the seed will not grow. I need to not allow the word to be crowded out by the world around me.

    • Jason on December 15, 2021 at 10:30 am

      This is wonderful commentary, Kathy. The parable of the sower has so many theological and practical layers to it, yet it is so applicable to our lives and walks with God. You really captured the essence of it in these lines:

      It is important that you allow room for the seed of the word, in your life. The enemy does not want My word to take root in your heart. He does not want you to be fruitful for Me… It is important that you hear My word, accept it, and bear fruit that fulfills the purpose of the seed. I promise that the truth will be revealed.

      I really appreciate how you showed throughout your post that our job or responsibility in this parable is to receive and sow the seed of the word and it is God’s job to make the seed grow both in the world and in our hearts through His Spirit and power. His fruit will be produced and His truth will be revealed if we receive His word, spread His word, and allow it to take root in our hearts and in the places we find ourselves.

      • Kathy on December 20, 2021 at 7:45 pm

        Thank you so much Jason. I always love your input! I especially love what you said in this sentence it is God’s job to make the seed grow both in the world and in our hearts through His Spirit and power. I really want his words to take root in my heart. I am trying to make it a priority to spend time with him and remember what Christmas is truly about!

        • Jason on December 23, 2021 at 10:48 am

          I want the same so much, Kathy! I pray that God will empower us with his passion and strength to pursue Him and His truth and grow closer to His heart. That is indeed what Christmas and every day is all about. Have a wonderful season celebrating the Savior!

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