Jesus did not tell His followers to try to become the light of the world. He told them they already were.
You Are the Light
Look at the verbs. “Ye are the light of the world.” This is a statement of what is true of you because you belong to Him. In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” The light is His, and it shines through those who follow Him.
The Bushel
Then He gives a picture everyone listening would understand. A family in that day lit a small oil lamp in the evening, and it lit the whole room. No one would light it and then cover it with a basket. A bushel was a household measuring vessel. Putting a lamp under it would defeat the purpose of lighting it.
Yet many believers do just that. We cover our light with fear of what people will think, with the belief that our faith is a private matter, or with the feeling that we have nothing to offer. A bushel does not put the light out. It only keeps it from doing what it was lit to do.
Giving Light to All in the House
Notice who the lamp is for. It “giveth light unto all that are in the house.” Light is not for show. It is for the people near you: the household, the coworker, the child, the neighbour in the dark. You do not need a platform to be that. You need a life that is lit and set where it can be seen.
And the point is not to be admired. Jesus says to let it shine “that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” When the light is shining as it should, people do not look at the lamp. They look at what the lamp lets them see, and then they look to the Father.
Something to carry today: Ask what you have been using as a bushel, whether fear, shyness, or comparison. Pick one simple, honest way to let your light shine today, and trust the Father to be seen in it.
Father, thank You for making me light in Christ. Forgive me for the times I have hidden it. Take away whatever I have placed over it, and let my life shine in the places You have set me, so that those around me see You. In Jesus' name, Amen.