No Light

“I am the LORD All-Powerful. So don't depend on your own power or strength, but on my Spirit.” (Zechariah 4:6 CEV)

In my bedroom, there are two matching lamps on either side of the bed. Recently, both of them started malfunctioning. I have a stockpile of different kinds of bulbs, so I just kept trying every type I had in the house. Each new bulb would work for a while--but then the light would go off. After a few weeks of frustration, I was ready to give up. As a last-ditch effort, I decided to look online for possible fixes. One of the articles I read suggested using the same wattage of bulb that the lamp originally came with; I wasn’t sure what that was since the lamps were old.  It took me some trial and error--but I finally found the correct bulbs that were made for the lamps, and now they are working fine.  

We are lamps that are meant to illuminate the darkness around us. Our souls were equipped with an original light source, but we have switched to different kinds of bulbs of our own choosing. We might be able to shine under our own talents and willpower for a while, but eventually we will burn out. Through trial and error, we discover our authentic purpose--the initial light that God created within us. We learn not to depend on our own power and strength, but on the Holy Spirit.