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I love to star gaze on a cloudless night and be outside on a clear, sunny day. This week I got to thinking about what it is about clouds that I don’t like. Here’s what I came up with: they block out the sunlight, or starlight.

And God reminded me that this is exactly like what sin does in our lives: it blocks out the Son-light that is inside us.

Matthew 5 specifically talks about being “the Light of the World.” I often read that passage thinking that He means we hide our light intentionally. Yet, sin hides that light, too.

Think about a lunar eclipse. When the moon passes directly behind the earth and can last for up to a few hours. The moon is hidden from view during the nighttime when this occurs.

We are the moon. The light we give off is not our own, it is the light of God. However, when we position ourselves into the shadow of sin, we hide ‘our’ light. And those who are in the darkness are not able to see God’s light shining in us until we repent.

If you are carrying the weight of your unspoken sin around, it’s time to give it to God. Lay it at the foot of the cross where it was paid for with the blood of the Lamb. It is on the hill of Calvary that the church can stand united. It is where we are able to lay down our sins and pick up our lights so that we shine as a city on a hill.

We are called to stand out. God knows we are not perfect, but each moment we have breathe, He offers us a chance to repent. I love the way that this song portrays the way that we need to fight to be who “we are” as children of the light. Kari Jobe, We Are http://youtu.be/B07iK9uh9qY