BEING A LIGHT

This is the second installment of responses to your questions. My hope is to have this be a piece of larger, ongoing conversations, and not to be the last word. Many responses are designed to do just this. My hope is to respond in a way that opens the questions wider, rather than narrow them. With this in mind …Question:We are supposed to go out and be lights ... however, how am I to do that, when I struggle in discussing it with the others? What is your apologetic?Response:So often we equate being the light with knowing what to say, how to say it or when we should say it. And it gets worse. We too often resort to arguing about our faith in an attempt to convince others we are right, and disagreement with us would be a bad move.Perhaps it’s best to first recognize that we are to be the light. Peter Rollins speaks of this in the sense of being an “aroma” for others. Rather than telling others they are hungry, and forcing them to eat, we should act as an aroma.It’s that moment when we didn’t realize we were hungry, and then we smell someone grilling. From that moment all we can do is think about food. Why? Because of the aroma. No one told us what we wanted; we smelled it and knew it immediately. This is much like being the light.It’s like turning up the lights in a dimly lit room. We suddenly can see all that we’ve been missing. Maybe our job is to simply help people see what’s been in the room the whole time.And our world needs this now more than ever.Today, there is a lot of talk, words, information, blogs (way too many blogs!) and general noise. It’s tempting to think that this is good and needed, but this is not always the case. What’s needed are words that mean something. And one thing that lends meaning and weight to our words is the way we live.A few years ago I read an article – and I wish I could find it but I cannot, because I don’t remember who wrote it or where I read it. I’ll try to summarize what I read, and if you happen to know which article feel free to send along and I will post … moving on – I read an article that spoke about how we can talk about our faith.The article spoke of 1 Peter 3 in which says, “Always be ready in season and out of season to give a reason for the hope you have in Christ Jesus.” Many make the “always be ready to give a reason” part the prominent. This strips much of being the light down to mere words and ideas. But Peter was not interested in words alone. He was interested in how the people of God lived too.In the preceding verses, Peter instructed the believers on how they should live. Then he instructed them on being ready to speak. It’s tempting to believe that it can just be word, but it can’t. And it can be just as tempting to believe that it can just be deed, but it can’t. It has to be both – one being a compliment to the other. Yes, they can both stand on their own (and at times they have to), but they are always served well by the other.That article - that I cannot recall at the moment - raised some questions for me, which I will share with you.First, “In what ways am I living as a light in the place God has me?” Our answer to that question should be tangible – something we could see.Second, “What reason do I have hope for hoping in Jesus?” In other words, why do I care so much about who God is? If I were asked about my life, how would I tell my story? However we answer this question will cause us to consider what we might say to others when asked. If we are wrestling with these questions, then we will learn the best apologetic there is … a life lived in the ways of Jesus.