The Speed of Light

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, 

but will have the light of life."

– John 8:12

Nicknamed The Greatest, three-time heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali was known for his lightning-fast punches. “I'm so fast,” he once bragged, “that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.”

Ali’s quickness was legendary, but he was obviously exaggerating. The actual speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, which many physicists believe is an

unsurpassable barrier. And what does that kind of speed look like? Earlier this year, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) answered that question by filming a laser beam passing through a bottle of milk at about 100 billion frames per second. And according to the Live Science website, the resulting footage showed photons streaking through the milk in a blue blur as the laser traveled across the screen from left to right. Milk molecules helped scatter the photons in the laser beam, similar to how clouds of cosmic dust scatter the light from otherwise-invisible stars.

Cal Tech’s remarkable footage in more ways than one sheds new light on long-held notions about the universe. Likewise, the teachings of Jesus illuminate the distorted -- but accepted -- ways of the world against the perfection of God’s Kingdom. For example, society teaches us to beat the competition, climb the corporate ladder and keep up with our neighbors (and then leave them in our dust). We always need the biggest, the fastest and the shiniest. And most of all, it’s not bragging if we can back it all up.

But Christ teaches something quite unexpected; that his followers are the light of the world. And to be first, we must be last.

That’s a bold, revolutionary perspective that’s unacceptable to most people. And that’s just the point. After all, how much better would this world be if we were to adopt a servant’s attitude and put the interests of others before our own?

Jesus answered this question through his own example. First, he willingly surrendered the advantages he had as God’s only Son. He entered the world through the most humble of circumstances -- a birth among farm animals in a filthy stable. When he grew older, he learned to make a common man’s living as a carpenter. Of course, Jesus could have lived in splendor as the King of Kings. But instead, he chose a nomadic existence for teaching the Good News of salvation to his people.

That’s quite a life lesson. And it was one taught by the One with a humble servant’s heart. He’s the same One who came to serve rather than to be served. And he’s the only One whose sacrifice for our sakes is counted worthy.

How can we mirror Christ’s life through our own lives? 

It all starts by accepting him as our personal Lord and Savior. What’s more, we must realize that we’re nothing without Jesus -- and we can do even less by ourselves. But when we fully surrender our lives to God, it’s through this brilliant point of light that we can find our life’s true purpose.