By chance, a strange site once caught my attention: a streetlight turned on in the middle of a sunny Sunday afternoon. Although the light was turned to full brightness, it had a negligible effect compared to the Texas sunlight beaming down on me. The streetlight wasn’t any brighter than at night, but the light’s impact was more drastic in the darkness.
Paul wrote to the Philippians from a Roman prison. People who exemplified this warped and crooked generation surrounded him. Treated like a criminal, Paul had every reason to begin acting like one—whether in action or attitude. Instead, he continued his ministry, seizing his surroundings and opting to make them an opportunity.
Amid a dark generation, we can easily succumb to despair. Haiti has fallen into the hands of gangs. Ukrainians, Russians, Israelis, and Palestinians die daily. In the United States, suicide and drug use have skyrocketed. Looking on the bright side challenges us.
We live in a warped and crooked generation, and until Jesus returns, we always will. Maybe it’s time we stopped looking on the bright side and started doing everything without grumbling or arguing so that we might become blameless and pure. Then our light will shine even brighter in the darkness.
Just like stars light the night and streetlights the dark, Christians can shine the brightest when the world is dim.
Stop looking on the bright side. Instead, start shining.
Autumn Bogner is a writer and perpetual student of church history. She is a Moody Bible Institute (BA) and Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM) graduate and serves as an instructor with the Opened Bible Academy. When she isn’t writing or teaching, you can catch her chasing around second graders at Sunday School, hatching plans for an escape room, or soundly losing at chess against her husband, Mark.