“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” Luke 8:16-18 [ESV]
Yesterday I had the privilege of recording a Podcast episode with Pastor Graydon Cress who is the Pastor of the Canyon Hills School of Discipleship in a series about “Calling”. We talked primarily how I juggle my work, family, and ministry life as well as any tips and tricks I had for navigating secular work as born-again Christian. Today’s time in God’s Word is right in line with some of things we talked about in regard to living out your Faith in your work environment and seeing that activity as your ministry or mission field.
In today’s culture and society, the world makes it very hard to comfortably set our lamp out for all to see. We run the risk of getting canceled, persecuted, belittled, sidelined, or even fired for what we believe. What Jesus says here in verse 17 is that if we are genuine born again Christians and following Jesus obediently, we will not be able to hide who we are or what we believe; it will be revealed exactly who we are in our behavior, love, respect, and integrity….we can only hope for this kind of exposure as we seek to serve the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
Verse 18 is an awesome and frightening verse at the same time. First let’s talk about what it really means because this could be interpreted as the wealthy person will get wealthier and the poor person will become poorer and lose everything. This is true but not in the context of ‘money’. Jesus is speaking in context of what followed previously which is the Parable of the Sower and that is specifically Spiritual knowledge and understanding. So, when we think about what kind of ‘Soil’ we are, Jesus is saying we need to be careful in how we ‘listen’ to the Living Word. Do we consume and apply diligently the Word of God and grow in our sanctification; which result in more understanding and growth in our relationship with Jesus? Or, does the Word fall flat and we don’t heed the instruction and not or mis-apply the instruction we are given? If it is the latter, Jesus says we don’t have a depth of knowledge and relationship we think and what we do have will be taken from us. Umm, this is scary. FYI – I believe this is a person who has not had a true conversion; one who has not been transformed by the renewing of their mind in Salvation (Romans 12:2).
What a wonderful cap to my time with Graydon yesterday in the scope of my work and how I present myself at Microsoft. I am constantly learning how I can better live out my faith and keep the lamp of the light of Jesus right out there for everyone to see and be available and ready to answer the question that comes —> “Ben, what makes you so different in the work that you do?”