Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:10] Welcome to today's Weekday Podcast. Thanks for being with us today. If you find this encouraging, if you don't mind, would you share the link with a friend? Just send them to weekday podcast.com today I want to start with a little bit of a confession. I have, on more than one occasion, more times than I care to admit, turned on the flashlight on my phone, or while it's still in my pocket. Now, obviously not on purpose. I'm just walking around living my life and apparently my leg decides it needs some guidance. So pull my phone out, the flashlights going full blast there, burning away in the dark where nobody can see it, doing absolutely nothing useful except getting hot and wearing out my battery. And here's what's funny about it. The light was working perfectly. It was doing exactly what it's designed to do. It was just. It was just covered up.
[00:00:54] I think Jesus had something like this in mind when he said this in Matthew 5, 14, 15, he said, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
[00:01:09] Jesus doesn't say, well, try to become a light.
[00:01:12] He doesn't say, work together, being brighter. He says, you are the light. Present tense, already true. This isn't a goal he's handing you, it is an identity. He's declaring it over you. And the same thing, just a verse earlier, he says, you are the salt of the earth. Not you could be someday. If you get it together, you are now as you are. And that matters more than you might think. Because a lot of us, a lot of us have been quietly treating faith like a self improvement project. Like if we just got a little better, if we learned a little more, if we cleaned up a little more, then we'll find, you know, we'll qualify to be used by God. Then we'll be worth something in the kingdom. But Jesus said to this group of fishermen, to ordinary working class people who were going to fall asleep when he needed them the most, who were going to deny him under pressure, he looked at them and said, you are the light.
[00:02:02] Before any of that, because it was never about their performance.
[00:02:05] It was about their position.
[00:02:07] Your identity in the kingdom isn't something you earn, it's something you receive. So here's the question Jesus really is asking, not why aren't you shining? The light's already on. The question is, why? What's covering you? Maybe it's been a tough season and you started to forget who you are. Maybe you've been so focused on your failures that you've lost sight of your identity. Maybe you've just gotten busy and the light has been quietly sitting in your pocket. Whatever it is, the name Jesus gave you hasn't changed. You are salt. You are light. And that is already completely, permanently true. Jesus didn't say become the light. He said, you are the light. The question isn't whether you're shining, it's what's covering the you have a great day. We'll see you back here soon.
