A City Set On A Hill
In Jesus’ infamous sermon, He stood on the mountain and told his disciples that they are the light of the world, and just like a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, neither can the light of his disciples.
Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.”
While this imagery is beautiful, every time I read it, the depth of the messages gives me pause. In order to be the light of the world, I must be Jesus’ disciple. He is the light, and my entire mission in this life is to reflect Him. Just like Moses in Exodus 34, whose face shone so brightly that he had to cover it after he met with God, I too should be shining and reflecting the light of Jesus as I go about my days on this earth.
The only way to reflect Jesus’ light is by being his disciple. We hear the term disciple often, but have you ever considered what it really meant to be a disciple in the first century? Jesus was their rabbi, and once you chose your rabbi, you spent your life dedicated to mirroring and trying to become exactly like that person – not a variation of them – exactly like them.
If I want to become exactly like Jesus so that I can be a city set on a hill and shine His light to the world, I have to spend time with him. There is no other way to become like someone other than being near them, studying their every move and word, and spending so much time with them that you watch the way they walk, the way they talk, the things they choose to say and choose to leave unsaid. Unlike the disciples on the mountain, we can’t follow Jesus on foot, but we can still follow His every move by studying His life and abiding in His word. Thank the Lord for His first disciples who listened to God’s calling and took the time to write down the life of Jesus so that we can still learn from it today.
1 John 2:6 “ Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.”
John reminds us throughout 1 John that we must abide in Him if we want to be His disciple. Sometimes in life it feels easy to abide in His Word. When life is going well, when we are in a routine and things feel orderly, we find time to sit down and read His Word with ease. However, there are many times when life feels hectic and chaotic, and it feels impossible to find time to abide in His Word, yet that is what we need to do if we are to shine His light. Like Moses whose face would shine right after he met with God and then the brightness would fade over time, we too can have our lights fade over time if we are not constantly abiding in His Word and spending time with Jesus.
At the time of writing this exhortation, I am eleven weeks postpartum with my first child. As you can imagine, I am mentally and physically exhausted as I learn what is demanded of both my mind and body to become a mother, and I am constantly tempted to skip my Bible study and lean on the fact that God is gracious and understands my exhaustion. I know this temptation can arise in any phase of life whether you’re moving out of your childhood home, going away to college, starting a new job, or fighting a sickness. While He most certainly is a gracious God, His grace and my need is all the more reason that I should be sacrificing in order to spend time with Him first. If I am His disciple and I want to reflect His light, I simply must spend time in His presence – there is no other way. I need to abide in His Word so that I can reflect His light to all of those around me, whether that is in the walls of my home to my daughter or out in the world to the grocery store clerk.
So while seasons of life may change and the type of study we can devote ourselves to will ebb and flow, one thing must remain constant: we must abide in His word so that He is in us, and we reflect His light to those around us.