The Light Bulb

The Light Bulb


Most people in the world know what a light bulb is and how it is used, although it is possibly true that not every person has owned one or even used one. Before the light bulb there was the campfire, oil lamps, and candles. It really hasn't been that many years, in terms of the length of time man has been around, that we have had use of a light bulb.

Until recently all light bulbs were nearly the same but now we have the pig tail looking ones, florescent bulbs really, that are much cheaper to use, and soon to be the rage is the LED bulbs which put out a brighter light and are cheaper still to use then the florescent bulbs. Florescent bulbs are expensive and the LED lights are more expensive still but the power usage is less for the florescent and even less for the LED and the length of time a bulb will last is 10 times greater for the florescent over the traditional incandescent bulbs and 20 times greater for the LED. Which one you use depends on where you choose to use it and whether you want to save money now or in the future.

The one thing that the campfire, the torch, the oil lamp, the candle, the incandescent bulb, the florescent blub and the LED bulb all have in common is light. With the exception of the campfire, the primarily purpose of all the sources of light is light. The campfire is perhaps built for heat and cooking but light a fireplace, light is a by product of the fire and could possibly be the reason for it.

The Holy Bible has a parable ( a story with a message) that says no one lights a candle and hides it under a basket. Or they shouldn't anyway or otherwise the light serves no purpose. But it reality, there are times when we do have lights we keep hidden. The refrigerator light is one. Honestly, we don't know if it works until we open the door and we will never know if it didn't turn off when we closed the door. One thing I do know it that a florescent bulb won't work properly in the refrigerator because it is too cold.

Most of the light bulbs we burn are for personal use but some are for the benefit of everyone, like street lamps and traffic lights. Some lights are colored and are a joy to look at like Christmas lights and other colored ones, while pretty, don't bring us joy, like those colored one atop a police car.

We are so used to the presences of light and light bulbs that we pay little attention when they are turned on. It is only when they should be on and aren't that we notice. Even so, some lights are more important than others. Jesus said He is the light of the world. As Christians, we should let the light of Christ shine so others may find their way. But the truth is, we don't always.

A group of Christians, like minded and assembling themselves together on a regular bases is known as a church. In the modern world, people have come to confuse the building where a church meets with the church itself. I have read that a thief had broken into a church when the truth is a thief broke into a church building. The church is the people, not the structure. So whenever I refer to the church or a church I am referring to the group of believers as a collective unit.

I wrote a book, Queen of Southgate, and while writing that book I meet many of the street people, drug dealers. prostitutes, and thieves in Greensboro and High Point, NC and I know they have chosen to live their life after their own desires but the truth is many of the wealthy I serve at work are in the same situation. I look at the children of the rich, the beautiful young girls and the handsome young men dressed in their fine clothes and proud of their good looks and wealth and the head start they have over the general populace in obtaining more wealth and prestige and influence over others and realize they too, chose to live their life after their own designs.

The world with all its glitz and glamor is truly a dark and lonely place. Just venture out one cold night without your cellphone or cash or transportation and one will soon learn what a cold, dark, and dangerous place we really do live in. In such a situation one only wants to find a way home, to find someone who can help them get there. They pray for daylight so they can see their way to a safer place.

A little light in a dark place, the beacon on the hill, the little white church in Randleman on Sunset, the son of God who is the light of the world. Men are lovers of darkness. Seek ye the light