Matthew 17:24-2724 Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum. There the people who collect the temple tax came to Peter. They asked him, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke first. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “Who do the kings of the earth collect taxes and fees from? Do they collect them from their own children or from others?”26 “From others,” Peter answered.“Then the children don’t have to pay,” Jesus said to him.27 “But we don’t want to make them angry. So go to the lake and throw out your fishing line. Take the first fish you catch. Open its mouth. There you will find the exact coin you need. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Luke 5:1-31 One day Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee. The people crowded around him and listened to the word of God. 2 Jesus saw two boats at the edge of the water. They had been left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into the boat that belonged to Simon. Jesus asked him to go out a little way from shore. Then he sat down in the boat and taught the people.

2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:16-18

16 We don’t give up. Our bodies are becoming weaker and weaker. But our spirits are being renewed day by day.

17 Our troubles are small. They last only for a short time. But they are earning for us a glory that will last forever. It is greater than all our troubles.

18 So we don’t spend all our time looking at what we can see. Instead, we look at what we can’t see. That’s because what can be seen lasts only a short time. But what can’t be seen will last forever.

Acts 20: 7-11

7 Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

8 There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.

9 And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

10 Paul went down and threw himself on the young man. He put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “He’s alive!”

11 Then Paul went upstairs again. He broke bread and ate with them. He kept on talking until daylight. Then he left. 12 The people took the young man home. They were greatly comforted because he was alive.

John 2:13-1713 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house has eaten me up.”

Genesis 3:6-136 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave it to her husband, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Psalm 42:1-21As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

What if the darkness around us has become our excuse to hide the very light God gave us?

We talk about how dark the world is. How bad things are getting. What people are doing.

But Jesus looked at His followers and said, “You are the light of the world.”

So here is the question: If He called us light, why have we let darkness convince us to hide?