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Known by Your Light

"No one lights a lamp and hides it! Instead, he puts it on a lamp stand to give light to all who enter the room."¹

Lieutenant John Eisenhower, son of the late General Dwight Eisenhower, was a member of his father's staff during Word War II. On one occasion General Eisenhower gave his son a message to deliver to a colonel on the front line.

The young lieutenant said to the colonel, "My dad says to watch your right flank." The puzzled officer replied, "Really? And what does your mommy say?"

Obviously the colonel didn't know who young Eisenhower was. Eisenhower didn't make himself known. He hid his light under a bushel as it were.

While we don't want to drop names or ride on somebody else's coattails, nor make any kind of an impact in our circle of influence, it is important that we are known for who we are—not by rank or title—but by our fruit.

That is, do people know that I'm a Christian—do they "see" Jesus in me—or do I just melt into the surrounding group in which I find myself, and thereby hide my light under a bushel?

No matter how small our light is, "All the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of one small candle."

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me to be as Jesus to someone today. Let them see your light shining through me. And in the words of the hymn writer, 'May your beauty rest upon me, As I seek the lost to win, And may they forget the channel, Seeing only Him [you].' Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen."

1. Luke 11:33 (TLB) (NLT).