Faith | Like an agate, you can reflect the Son’s light

One of our family’s favorite outside pastimes in years gone by was looking for agates which come in all shades of transparent and surprising colors.

What we discovered is that on cloudy days when light is diffused, they are incredibly difficult to see. They seem to blend in and hide amongst a host of common stones. But when the sun breaks through the clouds, all of that changes. Suddenly, the agates stand out.

They gleam and beam and flash and shout, “Here we are!”

Light can’t penetrate the granite, basalt or river rock, but bursts with dancing radiance when it collides with the transparency of an agate. Blue lace and fiery peach and sunset crimson—and golds and browns and greens in unending combinations.

A friend of mine told me about such a family excursion by a clear-running river on the Oregon coast. As the children laughed, squealed with delight and held the clear rocks up to the light, eagerly tucking their treasures into bags, a passerby asked, “Do those things have any value?”

My friend thought to himself, Yes, they do. But not in the way you mean.

Vital and appealing as physical light may be, however, it cannot compare to the power and energy of God’s spiritual light. Did you know that as a believer, you are a refractor of God’s wonderful light?

Untold millions of people at this moment walk in the sunlight, yet stumble and grope their way along life’s path in deep spiritual darkness. A few, like the Bible character Job, finally weary of tripping in the dreary darkness ask, “Where is the path to the source of light?” (Job 38:24, NLT). When they discover a relationship with Jesus, they shout out to God like the psalmist did: “You floodlight my life!” (Psalm 18:28, MSG).

Still others, like river rock or chunks of basalt, refuse that light and effectively shut it out of their lives. When spiritual truth and the light of Jesus shine across their lives, they diffuse and disseminate, without so much as leaving a shadow.

Sadly, they never consider what Jesus said in John 8:12 (TLB): “I am the Light of the world. So, if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path.”

I heard the story about three prospectors who hit the mother lode during the California gold rush. But they sorely needed tools and supplies to mine out the treasure. They made a pact and agreed to go into town, one at a time, not uttering a word to anyone. Afterward they were to meet and walk back to camp together with the supplies.

But something had happened. Before they knew it, a crowd of over a hundred people had gathered around them on the street. The miners began to accuse one another of spilling their secret, but all three denied it.

So, they went to the crowd and asked why they had been followed.

One man spoke up. “Because we know you have hit the big one!”

“Why do you think that?” they demanded.

“We can see it on your faces,” the man replied. “You can’t hide your joy!”

So then, if you find yourself discouraged by all the bad news this summer—war, inflation, crime, political fights and name calling—don’t ask God to beam you up yet. Ask him to beam you out. God is placing someone in your path right now who is looking for a ray of light in the gloom.

So go ahead. Refract and reflect the pure, transforming light of heaven.

Shine like an agate. Shine like Jesus.