CHEMLIGHTS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Chemlights have been around since the 1960s. They usually consist of a plastic tube containing a glass ampule of hydrogen peroxide surrounded by another mixture of oxalate ester and a dye. By folding the plastic tube, the glass ampule is broken and the peroxide mixes with oxalate ester. This causes a chemiluminescent reaction. Molecules rapidly decay in the reaction and give off energy as light.
Chemlights have a variety of applications, but they are best appreciated by motorists and the military. Motorists use them in place of highway flares, since they present no fire hazard – as flares do. On the highway, chemlights can steer people away from disabled vehicles or other roadside hazards.
The military uses them because their light is more subdued, making them compatible with the light discipline exercised in military operations. Most soldiers probably remember chemlights being used at night to mark landing zones for aircraft, to mark turnoffs for road convoys, or to guide the way through concertina wire to a command post. The direction they provide could save life and limb.
Chemlights do have some drawbacks, however. First, they can only be used once. Another drawback is that chemlights only last a few hours. Yet the light they give in that short and critical time may prevent deadly disasters if used where they are needed most. Though their light remains for a brief moment they may prevent life-long injuries – and even death.
This parallels the temporary things of this life – our time and resources. Like chemlights, our lives, time, and possessions have only a one-time-use. We’ll all leave our money, titles, and possessions behind when we die. And neither our lives nor our possessions last very long. Yet if we use them for the right purpose they can take on eternal significance.
A chemlight or glowstick can be used merely as a toy, robbing it of all significance. Or a chemlight can be used to save lives, making its importance profound.
In the same way, by devoting our lives and resources to the Kingdom of God we turn the temporary into the eternal. By supporting the ministry of the church to spread the Kingdom of God, that which has minor significance takes on infinite significance.
Yes, we can use our lives for our own selfish gratification and entertainment. But in the light of heaven and hell, that will be the most tragic waste of our lives and resources. It’s infinitely better to give what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose – eternal life and our heavenly reward.
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done” (Matthew 16:25-27).
PRAYER: Dear Father in heaven, please give me heavenly wisdom to see that I can give eternal significance and duration to the temporary and physical things of this life by placing them in Your masterful hands. Help me to give what I cannot keep to gain what I cannot lose. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
(Information from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjwqnYoKElo)
