We are supposed to be a light to this world, a lighthouse, a beacon of hope, bringing the good news of our Lord and Savior.  We need to keep our light shining brightly.  How then, you ask, do I keep my light burning bright?  I mean, we do live in a messed up world, where greed, lust, sin, corruption, and lawlessness are running rampant.  Sin is in just about everything we set our eyes on.  Well, I say think of God’s Word as a deep well of oil and you live in a lantern filled with plenty of oil.  You are like the wick, as long as you keep your feet planted in that oil, you will burn bright.  It’s when your oil runs low that you fade out.  Being planted in your oil is reading your Bible, going deep, writing notes, checking references, and coming to a full understanding of God’s Word as it was intended to be.
Along with keeping yourself planted in God’s Word, you must worship the Lord, sing praises to Him, and make it a habit to listen to Christian music.  There is Pandora, Shazam, and YouTube.  They are all free and you can get plenty of it.  If you don’t know about Christian music, look it up on the internet.  Start with the top 20 Christian artists and find something you like.  Then plug those people into Pandora and the same kind of music will play for you.  We live in dark times where sin is so subtly pressed into our lives, without us even realizing it.  So, being planted near deep waters, near, deep fertile ground is most important to living a wholesome life in Christ.

Imagine if you were in China, or a country with a foreign tongue that you don’t know.  Now imagine you’re walking down the street through an outdoor market filled with people talking and yelling, all in this foreign tongue.  You would feel alienated like you don’t belong and for the most part, you would be clueless to what is going on around you. Well, when it comes to the world that we live in, this is exactly how we are to look at it, see that people in this world need help, that they need a Savior.  Be in the world, but not of the world.  We are to live in it, but not indulge in it. The Bible says do not be conformed to the ways of this world, the lust of the flesh, physical pleasure, and the lust of the eyes.

Everything we see, we want it, have to have it.  It’s so beautiful, we work just to get it. Materialism and the pride of life, look at me and my accomplishments and my gain.  I’m so smart, follow me and you’ll be like me.  As you walk through this wicked, sin-filled land, it looks so beautiful.  It looks so comfortable, it looks so enticing, but in fact, it’s one big jail cell.  We make ourselves so comfy and fill our lives with all the pleasures that satisfy the flesh.  Because we have made our lives so desirable, there is no need to follow God or walk down the narrow path as we are instructed.  We just keep on following the world, the broad way everyone is traveling down, but wait, one day the door to this jail cell will close and be locked in a blink of an eye.  It will be too late to come out.  You will be stuck in it for eternity, separated from our God who loves us so much, that he sent his son Jesus to come in, through the shedding of His blood, His sacrifice for our sins and all we need to do is accept that and follow after what Jesus is telling us.

As we go through life and travel this world, we sit back and watch the world living their lives.  We see it through TV, movies, and TV shows. We see our neighbor’s homes, lawns, and flowers.  We see other neighbor’s houses that are bigger, they’re better, they have more.  We see nicer cars, we see posts on the internet, we see millionaires, billionaires, castles, mansions, luxury everything, upgrades, remodels, and jewelry.  There’s an upgrade for whoever and whatever tax bracket one may be in.

In the Bible, Paul tells us to be content with what we have, or where we are.  Tony Robbins, an infomercial guru, tells us we don’t have to be content with what we have and where we are because we can get what we want, whatever we want, with our own willpower.  For every one thing that someone tells us to do in the Bible, there are hundreds more in contrary to that, here, in the world.  The Bible says in Matthew 7:13 – 14, “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way and this road leads to destruction. There are many who enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow is the road and that leads to life and only a few find it.”

Think with me for a second, the word many, this means a large number of countless, innumerable scores of crowds, droves of an army, a horde of.  If there are 10 people, many might mean 8 or 9.  If there are 100 people, that might mean 70-90.  What if there are 100 million?  Maybe 99 million, might fall in the category of many.  Now let’s examine a few – meaning one, or two, a small number, or a couple.  Let’s look at this in the opposite way.  Out of 10, maybe one or two, out of a hundred, maybe one or two or maybe ten or twenty, out of a hundred million, maybe one or two or maybe 10 or 20, or maybe it means one or two million.  We are not sure, but it is a very significant amount comparatively.

So listen as I plead, the word of God is true, it is alive.  God is real and His call for you, His plea is this: turn from your wicked ways and serve Him and Him alone.  Don’t get yourself all conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you will prove the good and approved will of our heavenly father.  The Bible makes it clear, if you love the world and the lust that are in it, you cannot love the father.  1 John 2:15 We need to be lights, it is a narrow path.  Narrow meaning as you walk this path, do not and I repeat do not, indulge in its lust, but while you do travel, spreading the word of God, spreading God’s love, He will bless you and give you the desires of your heart.  Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, your walk, your work, your family, and your entertainment. Know where and how the devil works and steer clear!