“Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light” (Luke 11:35-36, NLT).

These verses from Luke are an extension of Jesus’ well-known teaching from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:22ff. Light and darkness are metaphors for good and evil.

But, Dr. Luke develops the metaphor more richly in his account by elaborating on the properties of light, specifically, the magnitude and direction of the light. Light travels in a straight line and if it is not bright enough or is deflected by a surface, its radiance diminishes and it can leave dark corners in a particular space.

This takes Jesus’ “you are the light of the world” mandate in Matthew 5:14-16 to a whole new level. If Jesus is the light of your life and if you are broadcasting His light to your world, then you must ensure His light has filled every part of your life and that nothing remains in your life that would deflect His light.

If you are the light of the world, there must be no dark corners that are the result of a lack of intensity or deflection of His light. In other words, you must be sure that there are no parts of your life that haven’t been shined on by Jesus!. You must be sure that there are no parts of your life that are deflecting His light!

When you are filled with light with no dark corners, then the light of Jesus is radiant in your life like a floodlight filling all of your life completely with the light of God’s love and salvation. Then, you can let your light shine before people so that they may see your good deeds and give praise to God (Matthew 5:16).

God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7, NLT)