Top 7 Bible Verses About Being A Light For This World

Here are my top seven Bible verses about being a light to the world.

Matthew 5:14-16 “You 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.”

Here is the best use of the word “light” relating to being a light for Christ in a dark and dying world. A light’s useless if it’s not visible. It cannot shine into the darkness if it’s not put on display for others to see. Just as a lamp “gives light to everyone in the house” so we must shine our light so that others might see our “good deeds” and thus, “glorify God the Father” and hopefully, some might even be saved.

First Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

If you have any doubts that you were chosen as “a royal priesthood” read Ephesians 1 because it’s all about God’s effectual calling. God has chosen us out of the world to be what ancient Israel failed to be, “a people for his own possession” in order that “we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We’re called into the light to go back into the darkness to proclaim the “marvelous light” and that light is Jesus Christ (John 8:12).

Philippians 2:14-16 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

It’s hard to not grumble or complain about things. That seems to be the way of the world but we’re called to not dispute, grumble, or complain but to “be blameless and innocent” as the very “children of God without blemish,” thanks to Jesus Christ. We are called to “shine as lights in the world” so that others who now sit in darkness might see the Light of the World.

Second Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

We cannot claim to be in the light while running with those who walk in darkness. The Apostle John shows that it’s not possible to claim to be in the light and yet walk (or associate) with those in darkness. John wrote “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1st John 1:6-7).

Isaiah 49:6 “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

God wanted to use the nation of Israel as a light to bring them to the one, true God “You are my servant Israel, in whom I will display my splendor” (Isaiah 49:3) and how else would God’s splendor or glory be known? It could be known to the nations around Israel by their obedience and thus, God would bless them. Sadly, Israel failed the first time but apparently, she will get another change because God’s going “to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel” to be “a light for the Gentiles” for the express purpose that God’s “salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” In similar fashion, that is what we are called to do today.

Acts 13:47 “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Paul is quoting Isaiah 49:6 when he was speaking to a mixed audience of Gentiles and Jews and said that God was commanding him to be “a light for the Gentiles” in order “that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” Even though this passage is about the Lord, Jesus Christ, Paul was using the context to express his calling to be the Apostle of the Gentiles but he never missed a chance to witness to his fellow Jew because of his great love for them (Rom 11). The love Paul had for the Jews was never diminished, even though the very ones he loved were persecuting him and sought to kill him.

First Thessalonians 5:5 “For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

If we are truly the children of light and children of the day as opposed to the children of the darkness and the children of the night (who have different fathers), then we should be walking in the day and in the light. We can more easily stumble and fall in the darkness than in the light and besides, “We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

Conclusion

We can be a light to the world but Jesus is the Light of the World (John 9:5). Only light can overcome darkness (John 1:5). We cannot overcome anything of ourselves. Only by the blood of the Lamb of God do we overcome (Rev 12:11). It is not through self-effort, positive thinking, or becoming a monk in a monastery, but by repenting and trusting in Christ. Jesus is the one and only way to the Father (John 6:44) and the one way to be saved (Acts 4:12). It isn’t Jesus + you or Jesus + works because that equals zero! It is Jesus plus nothing or Jesus + 0 = eternal life. The point is, “Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness” (Jer 13:16).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.