Abba, We Tried to Hide Our Light Under a Bushel, but It Keeps Getting Out

Abba, we need to talk about the bushel.

Jesus said no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket (Matthew 5:15). We assumed this was a slight warning, but it turns out to be a project plan. And we have been trying to carry it out for years, and failing by every measure.

Attempt One: The Actual Bushel

I took a large basket and lowered it over the lamp. Within minutes, the flame had no oxygen and went out. There was also the time that it somehow set the basket on fire. I’m not sure which was worse. Either way, hiding a light is a fire hazard, which probably explains why nobody in the Gospels tried it.

Attempt Two: The Polite Smile

I decided to keep our faith private, a personal matter between me and You, like my salary or my feelings about the office thermostat. This lasted until a coworker asked why I seemed so calm during the reorganization. I said “coffee”, but she knew it wasn’t the coffee.

Attempt Three: The Strategic Silence

At the family dinner, someone’s uncle said something unhinged about the end times. I looked at our plate, determined to stay under the basket. Then a sentence came out of my mouth, gently and with scripture in it, and the table went quiet. I didn’t choose that. Something in me turned on without asking permission. It’s the something that only You could have put there.

Attempt Four: “I’m Just Not That Kind of Christian”

We told ourselves that sharing the light was for pastors, worship leaders, and people with ring lights on YouTube and social media. But a lamp doesn’t need a platform. It only needs to be lit and put somewhere people can see by it, like a kitchen table. That is exactly where You keep putting us, and it’s annoying. Suddenly, in the middle of something I say stuff or do stuff that I never expected to, but You wanted me to. And while we should be glad about it, all I can think about is the temporary alienation from the world, and maybe from the next door neighbor that I now feel.

Attempt Five: Blending In

We tried to look as ordinary as possible. We dressed neutrally and said nothing remarkable, most of the time. Then a stranger in a queue said, “You seem like someone who prays.” We have no idea how he knew. Whatever it is, it leaks.

The Design Flaw

Abba, we’ve concluded that this is a design flaw, and the flaw is Yours. You made a light that can’t be contained. You put Your own Spirit in people who can’t stop being kind to the waitress, can’t stop forgiving, and can’t stop being the one who says “Let me pray for you” before they’ve thought it through. Hiding it would take more effort than shining it, and I’m tired.

So here is my formal surrender. I’m putting the bushel, ahem basket, down. I’ll use it for its proper purpose, which is carrying bread to someone who needs it.

The lamp stays on the stand, and You may do with it as You like.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

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