God put on a “light show” the other day, and we were there to see it. He said a lot of things, too, and we tried to listen. I’m sure He must have shown it before, but we were all too busy to watch.

The Lord let three tiny rays of sunlight beam their way into our dark room — not through the shutter, which was obstructing the light, but through pinholes, letting it in. It’s like your life for the Lord: The smaller you are, the clearer others can see Jesus. The less there is of you, the more His light shines through!

The rays were many different colors, all showing a different color of God’s light, but the same light. It is similar to what the Bible says about each Christian being given different gifts, but all from the same Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4). Each of us reflects in our own way the light of God — each one letting our light shine, showing our particular kind of works to cause men to glorify the beauty of God (Matthew 5:16).

We’re like little rays of light in this spiritually dark world. Even a few rays of light can make a difference. Don’t ever think because there’s so much darkness that it’s no use to have just a little light, because even one candle can be seen a mile away when it’s dark.

Even a speck of dust, as small as it is, can sparkle like a diamond if it will get in the sunshine — and the greater the darkness, the brighter the light! A little diamond of dust or a little ray of sunshine shows up best when the room is very dark. “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20).

You don’t dare look right at the sun; it’s so bright it could blind you. But you see its reflection in the things that it shines on. Just so, people can only see God as His children reflect Him, like little diamonds of dust. They can’t look at God, because He’s too bright. They have to look at us believers to see God in our reflection of Him.

God’s light can only be seen if you reflect it! People can only see God in you as you reflect Him. So “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16). If the dust weren’t there, you couldn’t see the light, and if the light weren’t there, you couldn’t see the dust. It takes both.

You may never see one of those little diamonds of dust again, for some of them just float into the light, sparkle for a moment, and then vanish back into the darkness. Some only have their moment of truth, but if only once in its life that grain of dust scintillates with the light of the Lord, it’s worth it! Even if only once in its life, it is life and joy to someone, it’s worth it! But if it could stay in the Lord’s light, it could sparkle its life out to the end, like one candlestick gives light to the whole house until it is finished. The longer that little grain of dust stays right in the light, the longer it shines and the longer it stays a diamond.

Those diamonds of dust can sparkle so short a while, and then they’re gone — like a man’s life that is like the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is gone! For what is your life? It’s but a vapor that reflects His rays of light for a little while and then it’s gone (Psalm 103:15-16). You have no guarantee of tomorrow, so you’d better sparkle now while you have the light, or you may fade into oblivion (James 4:14). Hardly anyone will know you even existed, because so few ever saw God’s light reflected in you, shining through you, because you didn’t stay in the light. “He who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:21).

The path of the light, the ray we see, is very straight and very narrow. It only shines in one direction, and its source is only in one direction. Likewise there is only one way to the Source, God, and you’ve got to follow that way or you won’t make it! Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12). He’s the only way. Only in Him is there light — the straight and narrow beam that points to the love of God — and unless you get in that beam of love, you’ll never shine. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me ” (John 14:6).

Think how much God can show you from even a little beam of light if you’re just simple and childlike enough to appreciate it. “Unless you become as a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven ” (Matthew 18:3).

To learn from the Lord, you have to stop, look, and listen. If you don’t, you’ll get run over by all the cares of this life, instead of running over with His truth, His love and His joy. You’ll be overcome by the world, instead of overcoming the world through Him. If you’re too busy or in too big of a hurry or too full of your own doings, your own things, you’ll never learn anything.

Watch the diamonds of dust: They don’t try to sparkle and shine. They just let the light shine on them. The don’t work at shining or moving. They’re not trying to get anywhere. They’re not in a hurry. They just float so quietly on God’s air.

So stop … look …listen, and let your dust become a diamond that shows the beauty of God!

Diamonds of Dust, Copyright © 1998-2012, The Family International