"The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up," Matthew 4:16. This was a prophecy of Isaiah 9:2 fulfilled by Jesus when he preached and taught from Capernaum, "which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim," Matthew 4:13.
Our pastor was preaching from this Sunday, emphasizing that, although there is much darkness in the world, we as Christians are called to bring light into that darkness. My husband was thinking of that at our Bible study tonight, and he gave this illustration:
"I had placed a "For Sale" sign on a piece of property, and two men came to talk to me about it," Howard said. "They were a little rough looking, and one of them held a can of beer in his hand," he went on. "At one point the man started to use some bad language, then he caught himself and put his hand over his mouth." Howard said he hadn't said anything to them about his faith, but he could tell they sensed something different about him, that he was a Christian.
One of the other men at the Bible study remarked that in his work as a counselor he doesn't preach, but he does teach Christian principles. He said, "One man came to me the other day and confided, 'I went to church Sunday.' Then he went on to say, 'When they took up an offering, my wife started to put in a couple of dollars. But I told her to put in $20.' He told me the preacher had said when you give to God, He will return 100 fold. Then he said, 'The very next day, my boss gave me new carpeting worth thousands of dollars!'"
It was obvious these two men were bringing light into the darkness. I remembered an incident that happened to my godly mother many years ago. She had taken a job in a large restaurant as a salad girl. She soon found out that the place was run by a boorish, rude owner who was unscrupulous and whose business was going bad. It was nearing Thanksgiving, and one day Mama remarked to a co-worker that she had already gotten her Thanksgiving turkey.
The next day, her boss accosted her and said, "So you stole one of my turkeys!" My spunky red-haired mother told him she had done no such thing! She was so insulted she took off her apron and threw it on the floor, telling him she was quitting. He turned around to stomp off and stopped in his tracks. All the other employees were facing him with their aprons on the floor. They were showing support and respect for someone they knew was innocent as they stared him down.
"Oh, don't quit," he turned to Mama and said. ( If memory serves, he offerered her any turkey she wanted.) Only then did her coworkers pick up their aprons and go back to work. She was a light in a dark place.
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