Our Own Flame

Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out. His strong steps are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on its mesh.
Job 18:5-8
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Our Own Flame
The world tells us that we need to let our light shine. Our own sinful flesh tells us that we are the source of our light, and we need to kindle the fire within us.  The devil mocks the Light and would have us turn form it.  So often we believe one or all of these voices and look only to ourselves, becoming self-centered.  We mistake the darkness of humanism as true enlightenment, only to wind up stumbling in the blackness.  Our flames, that is our own self-righteousness do not last.  The tempests of this world and our own sinful nature easily extinguish them.  Therefore, when we are convinced that our light will guide us in the dark, we delude ourselves.  Our reading for today is correct, “the light of the wicked is put out.”  Thanks be to God though, that there is a Light which cannot be snuffed out.  “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). And this light of God is given to us through faith, so that it is not our light but the light of Christ which shines through us.  It is the light of Christ which pieces the darkness and scatters sin, death, and the devil, who lurk in the shadows.  Our own flame cannot last, therefore our Father in heaven has given us His Son to be the Light of the world. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).