THE LESSER LIGHT

(Post by: Madie Hobbs)

Just last week, my mom and I got to devote the majority of three days to watching an online conference regarding classical education. Or more specifically, what was discussed was a contemplation of power regarding classical education.

It was an interesting conference, as they often are, and I have walked away from it with a new understanding of what power in our everyday lives looks like now, and how it should begin to look as we live in light of Eternity. Some individuals look at power as this thing which they can lord over the people around them in order to get them to do their bidding. Others look at power as an unattainable virtue only those stronger and more strategic than them can possess.

Really, as the only creatures on Earth with free will, power is an attribute we are born with, and one we should not be ashamed to wield. Unfortunately, the world has indoctrinated us with the idea that power is something which only those who seem to operate on a higher playing field than we do should possess. Only those who have a degree should wield the power to teach your children. Only those with the strongest social media presence deserve to have their opinions heard. Only those who are powerful enough to buy off as many people as they need should be in politics.

But haven’t you ever felt that gnawing feeling inside of you that’s says, “There’s something you can do about this”? Haven’t you ever felt a burning need to maintain power over something in your life when it doesn’t seem to be in your control anymore?

I imagine most of you said yes. Good. This is a starting point.

One of the first speakers at this conference I listened to pointed out some interesting imagery in the first chapter of Genesis, which I believe will help us to understand how we must go about maintaining our power in the world we live in today.

Many of us know the general story of creation; the Earth was a formless void full of darkness and water and without life of any kind. When the Lord begins His great work, he separates the water, creating a space for life to flourish. He banishes the darkness and brings forth light to illuminate His new work.

In verses 16-19 of Genesis 1, the Lord specifically creates the sun, moon, and stars. There is some imagery here I would like to discuss which has just been brought to my attention and makes for a very good analogy.

“Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmaments of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day” (Genesis 1:16-19 NKJV).

I’m sure many of us feel as though we are currently trying to navigate in the dark. We are in a transition period in our world today moving ever faster toward the darkest of nights, in which wrong is right and right is wrong, and only those with the “means” to be powerful are allowed to exercise that innate desire.

But here is what I have come to ask you today: Are you alright with being the lesser light in a time of darkness if it will preserve the coming of day for future generations?

Are we still willing to exercise power and maintain even a little light, though it is increasingly difficult to shine it, if it means that those coming after us will be able to expect a dawn?

Trust me, as of now, it can sometimes seem to me there is no light coming, no dawn to be expected. But also trust me when I say, there will not be a dawn coming if we do not keep, even as a crescent, a little sliver in the night, the light Jesus has empowered us with. How will those coming after us know how to usher in the day, and to shine even brighter than we did, if they have not been shown how to shine at all?

We may not, in the times in which we live, be given the opportunity to shine as brightly as the sun and look upon a new day, a new sort of transition period. But, if we will but be the lesser light, if we will but fight against the coming night and remain even as a small beacon for the future generations to look upon, we will have succeeded.

But you are the one who must decide: will you be okay with being a lesser light, or will you allow the darkness to prevail entirely simply to spare your pride?

SO, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= Are you willing to shine where Jesus has placed you?

= What are you going to do differently?