Turn the Light On

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. (Luke 6:20-23 ESV). In a letter to his friends, hymn writer Wendell P. Loveless related this story: One evening a speaker who was visiting the United States wanted to make a telephone call. He entered a phone booth, but found it to be different from those in his own country. It was beginning to get dark, so he had difficulty finding the number in the directory. He noticed that there was a light in the ceiling, but he didn’t know how to turn it on. As he tried again to find the number in the fading twilight, a passerby noted his plight and said, “Sir, if you want to turn the light on, you have to shut the door.” To the visitor’s amazement and satisfaction, when he closed the door, the booth was filled with light. He soon located the number and completed the call. I wonder how many people have never really understood the fullness of what awaits them through faith simply because they have never been able to “turn the light on.” The promises and blessings of the Scripture may only be found through an active search of them. A recent Barna Research Group survey conducted among a random probability sample of 641 adults demonstrated that many Americans have a woeful knowledge of the Bible. Among Christians in the survey: • 22% thought there actually is a Book of Thomas in the Bible, while 13% said they did not know whether Thomas is a book of the Bible or not. 65% correctly stated that Thomas is not a book of the Bible. • 61% knew that Jonah is a book of the Bible, 27% said it is not, and 12% had no idea. • Three quarters of the Christians surveyed knew that the Book of Isaiah is located in the O. T. , while 11% thought it is in the N. T, and 13% did not know where Isaiah could be found • Seven out of 10 Christians knew where Christ was born while 16% named Jerusalem as Jesus’ birthplace, 8% said it was Nazareth, and 6% did not hazard a guess. • The question that gave the most people trouble was “Is the expression ‘God helps those who help themselves’ in the Bible?” Only 38% of all Christians correctly stated that that phrase cannot be found anywhere in the Scriptures. Forty-two percent thought that this was a Biblical quotation, and 20% had no idea. Perhaps you have been intimidated by the sheer size of the Bible. Start in the Gospel of John and just begin to read. You’ll find that once you begin, the light will come on! God promises to bless you.