March 18: Based on Matthew 5:14-16 - "Being light in a darkened world"
š Matthew 5:14-16:
āYou are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.ā
š Have you ever been in complete darkness? I donāt mean the kind where your phone screen still illuminates your face or streetlights filter through your curtains. I mean absolute darkness. The kind where you canāt see your hand in front of your face.
A few years ago, I toured a cave system in Tennessee. At the deepest point, our guide did something unexpected.
š£ļø āIām going to turn off all the lights,ā she said. āJust for thirty seconds.ā
When she flipped the switch, the darkness wasā¦ physical. Tangible. It felt like it was pressing against my skin.
In those thirty seconds, something strange happened.
I became intensely aware of my breathing.
The slightest sound echoed dramatically.
And most surprisingāwhen she finally lit a single match, that tiny flame seemed to fill the entire cavern.
š„ One small flame, pushing back darkness that seemed absolute just moments before.
Thatās the image that comes to mind when I read Jesusā words in Matthew 5:14-16:
š āYou are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.ā
This isnāt a suggestion or a goal to aspire to. Itās a statement of identity. Jesus doesnāt say you should try to become light. He says you ARE light. But what does that mean for us today, especially when the world often feels shrouded in a darkness that goes beyond physical?
š«ļø A Heavier World
Iāve been thinking about this more deeply lately because, if Iām honest, the past few years have feltā¦ heavier somehow. At 44, Iāve lived through my share of difficult world events. Iāve seen societal ups and downs. But something about our current moment carries a different weight. Thereās a fog of unease that seems to hang in the air.
Many of you have felt it too.
I see it in your comments.
I hear it in conversations.
This sense that the shadows have grown longer.
And for me, that global heaviness coincided with a personal darkness. Depression. Not the seasonal kind that visits with winter and leaves with spring. Something deeper. More persistent.
š When Darkness Creeps In
It started with a chronic back injury that refused to heal. Physical pain has this way of seeping into your spirit, doesnāt it? The constant discomfort wore me down, day after day. But it wasnāt just the physical pain. There was this existential question looming: What am I doing with my life?
For years, Iād built my identity around my career in magic and the performing arts. I loved creating moments of wonder for people. But somewhere along the way, the passion began to fade. The thing that once lit me up from the inside no longer did. When purpose dims, itās amazing how quickly other lights start going out too.
š Have you been there?
In that place where getting out of bed becomes an act of courage?
Where the simplest tasks feel monumental?
Where the future seems like a dark corridor with no visible exit?
If youāre there right now, I want you to know something:
š¤ I see you. And more importantly, God sees you.
Because hereās what I discovered in my darknessāand what I believe Jesus was revealing in this passage about light:
š” The darkest times are precisely when we discover what it truly means to be light.
š„ Darkness Enhances the Flame
In the cave that day, darkness didnāt eliminate the matchās flame. It enhanced it. The darkness gave the light context. Purpose. Power.
During my lowest points, I found myself returning to Scripture more desperately than ever before. Not as some magical cure, but as a lifeline to something beyond my pain. One night, unable to sleep because of both physical and emotional anguish, I opened to the Psalms. I discovered that about one-third of the Psalms are lamentsāraw, honest expressions of pain, confusion, and even anger toward God.
Wait, thatās in the Bible? People of faith feeling abandoned, questioning Godās goodness, crying out in their darkness? Yes. And suddenly I didnāt feel so alone.
š āYou have taken from me friend and neighborādarkness is my closest friend.ā (Psalm 88:18)
Darkness is my closest friend. That line, written thousands of years ago, described exactly how I felt in that moment.
š Light Isnāt What You Think
But hereās what began to change everything for me. The light I needed wasnāt some forced positivity or superficial solution. The light was permission to be honest about the darkness. š” Light, I realized, isnāt the absence of darkness. Itās the courage to acknowledge darkness and still choose to shine anyway.
Jesus, when He calls us light, isnāt expecting us to manufacture artificial brightness. Heās inviting us to reflect His light, even through our brokenness.
Think about the metaphors Jesus used:
š§ Salt preserves in the midst of decay.
š” Light illuminates whatās already thereāboth beautiful and broken.
When Jesus says, āYou are the light of the world,ā Heās not calling us to be spotlights. Heās calling us to be windowsāsometimes cracked, sometimes smudged, but still allowing divine light to filter through our humanity.
š± Tiny Steps Toward Light
In my darkest season, I started taking small steps. Not grand gestures. Just tiny points of light:
š Reading Scripture, even when I felt nothing.
š Praying honestly, even when the words caught in my throat.
š¤ Reaching out to a trusted friend, even when isolation felt safer.
š¤² Serving others in simple ways, even when my own needs seemed overwhelming.
And slowlyānot dramatically, but graduallyāthe light began to grow. Not because I manufactured it, but because I positioned myself to receive it and reflect it.
š What It Means to Be Light
What Iāve come to believe is that being light doesnāt mean being perfect. It means being present.
Present with God.
Present with others.
Present with our pain and our hope, our doubts and our faith.
The world doesnāt need more performers putting on a show of flawless Christianity. It needs authentic windows who allow Godās light to shine through their unique, sometimes broken frames.
So let me speak directly to those of you watching who feel enveloped in darkness today:
š¤ Your depression doesnāt disqualify you from being light. Sometimes the people who understand darkness best become the most profound bearers of light.
ā Your doubts donāt disqualify you. Thomas doubted, and Jesus showed up specifically for him.
ā³ Your past doesnāt disqualify you. Peter denied Christ three times and became the rock on which the church was built.
š Your pain doesnāt disqualify you. In fact, as Paul writes, Godās power is made perfect in our weakness.
Remember: Jesus doesnāt say you should become light. He says you ARE light. Itās already your identity in Him.
š Small Flames, Big Impact
In practice, being light often looks simpler than we imagine:
Itās the neighbor who checks in on the elderly couple next door.
Itās the parent who listens without judgment when their teenager is struggling.
Itās the coworker who refuses to join in office gossip.
Itās the friend who sits in silence with someone whoās grieving, offering presence instead of platitudes.
Small flames. Pushing back darkness. One moment at a time.
Jesus said, āLet your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.ā Notice: People donāt see you and glorify you. They see your light and glorify the source of that light. Youāre not the star of the show. Youāre the window through which others glimpse something beyond themselves.
Thatās the beautiful paradox:
āØ When we stop trying to be spectacular and simply allow ourselves to be authentic conduits of Godās love, thatās when true light begins to penetrate the darkness around us.
šÆļø To Those in Darkness Today
Friend, whatever darkness youāre facing todayāwhether itās depression like mine, or grief, or financial strain, or relationship breakdown, or a world that feels increasingly chaoticāremember this:
š” You are the light of the world. Not because you generate light on your own, but because the Light of the World lives in you and wants to shine through you.
Your brokenness doesnāt diminish that light. It often becomes the very cracks through which it shines most powerfully.
So today, as you leave this time together, I invite you to consider one small way you might position yourself to receive and reflect Godās light. One tiny match you might strike in whatever darkness surrounds you. Because from just one match, entire caverns can be illuminated.
š¤ Letās Keep Shining Together
Iām Adam Wilber, and Iām still learning what it means to be light in dark places. Join me again tomorrow as we continue exploring how to live out our faith in ways that transform both us and the world around us.
If this message resonated with you today, especially if youāre walking through your own season of darkness, Iād love to hear from you in the comments. And rememberāthe fact that youāre still showing up, still seeking, still watching videos like this one? That itself is a point of light. Donāt underestimate how your tiny flame might be illuminating someone elseās darkness.
Until tomorrow, friends. āØ
An Invitation to go Deeperā¦.
If todayās message spoke to you, join the FaithLabz 30-Day Prayer Challenge and strengthen your connection with Godās unshakable love. You are never aloneāletās grow together!
