In a world where darkness is too common, increasing the light can seem overwhelming. How do we do it? Where do we find the light? For those who believe in God because of their own experience with God’s power and goodness, they see God as a source of light. For those of us who believe, there is no better source of light for this world than God.
In the Christian religion, the two “Great Commandments” encompass all that should be priorities for Christian people. The first of these is to love God. The second is to love people. If we are actively participating in choices that demonstrate love of God and love for people, that is when we are most in favor with God. That is when we will see miraculous outcomes in relation to our actions, our hopes, our lives, and our families.
This light is most present when we treat people as if they matter to us and when we respect God enough to alter our lives to live as He would have us live, rather than stubbornly following the world’s ways. Sometimes people think religion just gives us a bunch of rules to control us or for some other unsavory motive. But I believe the truth is that God’s commandments, that we often learn about through religious affiliations, are intended to bring light into our lives and our world. If we truly followed these “rules,” with the right intent, we would truly see a brighter world that all could find joy in.
The Ten Commandments are a good place to start to look for how God wants us to live. The first few of these commandments deal with our approach toward God, such as not worshiping false gods in place of Him and honoring the Sabbath Day. The last several commandments relate to how we treat people. These include some obvious things, such as not killing each other, not committing adultery, not stealing from each other, and not bearing false witness against others. If we all did our best to follow each of the Ten Commandments, keeping in mind the two Great Commandments as the overall goal, this would bring much light to our communities and would dispel a significant portion of the darkness that drags people down in this world.
But it goes beyond this. From my own experience and from things I hear from others who believe in God, it seems that when we are trying to live the way we understand that God asks of us, we are able to pray to Him and see answers to our prayers more dramatically than if we are just throwing up a prayer while having no intent to follow God. Genuineness and sincerity are key parts of following God.
I believe it absolutely: there is no better source of the light–that can improve our world–than God. We can find His light through the holy writings (found in several religions), through religious affiliations, and importantly, through directly praying to Him and learning to listen to His spiritual responses.
How can we make this world a better place? First, look to the source of all that is good–our Creator, our God.