You are the light of the
world — like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5:14 NLT)
In speaking of the light of the Lord's heavenly
people we are touching again a very solemn, and serious, and important
feature, something which has a tremendous history associated with it. The
entire history of the Lord's people, and of the spiritual life, is one of
light and darkness, of truth and falsehood, of purity and adulteration or
mixture, of clearness and cloudiness, of openness and secretiveness.... Truth may be in word,
in doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding truth in heart, truth in
life. Light may be a matter of doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding
state of light in the heart. The enemy will not object to us having plenty of
the former kind of light and truth, but, if he can, he will seek to destroy
its real value by introducing a lie over against it, a contradiction....
Remember that God never builds in the dark; that is, there can be no
constructiveness where there is not light. Before ever God would bring this
world back into order and fruitfulness He said: "Let there be light." God is
out for the manifestation of the truth. God's works are never darkness,
and we can never know constructiveness and progress unless there is absolute
light. You know quite well that you cannot go on with people who are not
straight, people who are crooked, people who are all the time furtive, not
open, not frank, who have somewhere in the background a secretiveness. You
have to say, "I cannot go on with that one." God is like that. He would say to
any one of us who might be there, "I cannot go on with you until you are
absolutely out in the open, until you have come to a place where you are going
to be perfectly honest." Reality is God's demand for any kind of work that He
will do. There may be many weaknesses, many imperfections, but if there is
genuineness, reality, and openness before God, where the spirit is clear and pure,
God can go on with His work. But immediately we begin to lock something up
inside, hold something back, cease to be perfectly open before God, the work
stops. Light in the sense of clearness is an essential for the building of the
city of God, because the ultimate purpose for that city is to shine forth with
that glory of God in character. With Him there is no variableness, neither
shadow cast by turning. That means that God can be relied upon. The Lord make
us like that.