The Light You Apply is the Light That Grows

The Light You Apply is the Light That Grows

Imagine for a moment you just woke up, lying on a cold, poured concrete floor. It’s pitch black. You have no idea where you are. Your heart starts racing as you fumble around, waving your hands back and forth, inching along, hoping to hit something familiar.

Then suddenly—your hand bumps into a table leg. Relief! It’s something recognizable. You feel your way upward and rise to your feet. Now standing, you cautiously explore the surface and find a small box—it feels like matches.

You open the box and strike one.

Flash. The flame flares up but quickly dies before you can take in your surroundings.

You strike another. This time, you hold it out and try to scan the room, but you can’t see much beyond the flickering glow. The flame burns your fingers, and you drop the match. It extinguishes as it hits the ground.

Over and over, you repeat this—strike, scan, drop—until finally, you find something else: a candle on a lampstand.

You’re down to your last match.

Heart pounding, you strike it. It lights. You shield the flame with your hand and bring it close to the candle. It catches. The small fire dances and holds.

For the first time, you exhale.

You can’t see much—just a few feet—but it’s enough. You begin to walk forward. And then—you find another lampstand. Another candle. You light it from the first. You keep going. The more you light, the more of the path you can see.

Now confidence begins to grow. There’s a pattern. You’re not just fumbling anymore—you’re following.

Then the lampstands start to get further apart. Obstacles appear. You get frustrated and unsure again. But just as you begin to lose hope, there it is—the next candle. You light it, and the darkness shrinks once more.

This picture came to me while reading something I’ve heard and read many times before. In Luke 8, Jesus shares a parable about hearing the Word and bearing fruit—and then immediately follows it with another:

"No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them."- Luke 8:16–18 (NIV)

I stopped at His words: “Be careful how you listen.”It felt out of place—Jesus had just been talking about light and lampstands. But then I saw it.

He wasn’t shifting topics. He was explaining the key: the light isn’t just the Word; it’s what happens when the Word is applied.

As we apply the truths we hear, the path becomes clearer. When we hear and forget, the light fades. But when we hear and obey, we move forward—bit by bit, from one lampstand to the next.

I realized I had been soaking in a ton of biblical content—sermons, podcasts, chapters—but applying very little of it. My intentions were good. My actions? Sparse.

It struck me: it’s not the quantity of content that changes you—it’s the quality of your response.

Each lamp you light is an application of truth.The path? That’s your soul.The light? God’s Word.And the Guide leading you from stand to stand? That’s the Holy Spirit.

Each lampstand represents something that needs to change—your behavior, your beliefs, your character. With every step, you’re being shaped to look more like Jesus.

I wandered in the dark for many years. I lit a few matches—went to church, heard sermons—but never lit the candles. No change, just growing frustration.

It wasn’t until I started applying what I heard that light began to spread.

Walk-Away Thought: Jesus doesn’t just call us to hear the Word—He calls us to apply it. Each truth obeyed becomes light on your path. And the more faithfully you respond, the more light He will give.

So if you feel stuck—like you’re lying on a cold, dark floor—let me encourage you:There is a Light that will illuminate your path.

His name is Jesus.

He promised that those who apply what they hear will receive more.But those who don’t—even what they think they have will be lost.

Light the lamp. Walk the path. One step, one truth, one act of obedience at a time.

May God get all the glory for what He has done in me--and anything He chooses to do through me...