I was recently pulled over by a city police officer for driving without my headlights on. I’ve never been pulled over for such a violation, but on this occasion I was preoccupied with what my wife spoon feeding me some amazing ice cream we had just stopped and picked up. When we left the store, the parking lot was so well lit I never turned my lights on and once I turned onto the street, there were so many cars around me with their headlights lighting the way that I wasn’t even aware my lights were not on. The fact that my headlights were not on hit me right after I saw the red and blue flashing lights in my rearview mirror. Fortunately, the officer only wrote me a warning ticket and let me go. What I was doing was not only dangerous to me and my wife, but to other people as well.
God showed me that what happened to me driving at night without lights happens more often than we might think. God wasn’t speaking to me about the dangers of driving at night without headlights, but He was speaking to me about a great deception that happens in the church today. There are those in the church who have no light at all because the Spirit of God doesn’t live in them. They have no light, but they live so close to those whose lights are shining and lighting the way that they can’t see their own need for light. Many only have the light of their religion, when what is needed is the light that comes from a relationship with Christ. I was driving by the light of the vehicles all around me and the street lights over me, but not my own lights. I wasn’t doing it on purpose, and I don’t think those in the church who live off the spiritual light of others do it on purpose either. It could be they have always lived on the spiritual light of others and the false glow of religion. It could be the enemy has just deceived them into thinking the light is coming from them, but they are living in danger. When Jesus told His disciples, “You are the light of the world,” He didn’t intend for them to be the only lights. Our lives should shine so bright that it is obvious to those who have no light.
Let me ask you, are your spiritual lights on, or have you been living on the lights of those around you? Your spiritual light will never come on by itself, but God must command the light of Jesus to shine in your heart as He did in the beginning of creation. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12
”But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” I Peter 2:9
There must come a point in your life that you no longer live off the spiritual lights of those around you. There must come a point when you evaluate whether the spiritual light is yours or someone else’s. If you truly have the light of Jesus in you, then let it shine!