Jesus, Light of the World!

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s Truth for us one drive at a time!

And a tractor is just the thing you need to drive if you’re heading to the campfire out in the pasture. That’s where Dannnah Gresh and Staci Rudolph are making s’mores and watching . . . oh, a few thousand creature teachers! 

I call them lightning bugs; you might call them fireflies. But either way, if you see them, you’re amazed by them! On today’s episode of the True Girl Podcast, we’ll learn all about those amazing little beetles with the power to glow, and how they illuminate a truth from God’s Word.

We’ve been exploring God’s power and character as we learn from creation. It’s time for one final dive into truth, in the eighth and final episode of season 5, titled, “Jesus, the Light of the World!” 

Staci Rudolph: Hey, Dannah, you got a little bit of marshmallow on your face.

Dannah Gresh: Where? Here?

Staci: Over to the left a little . . . yeah, you got it.

Dannah: Thanks, embarrassing! Hey True Girl, I hope you didn’t see that! S’mores are so, so good, but they sure are messy! 

Staci: You got that right! I’m probably dripping melted chocolate all over my pants, but since it’s dark, I can’t see it. 

What we can see are all the fireflies! I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many. There must be thousands of them!

Dannah: Yeah.When we bought this farm, we had no idea the beautiful light show we would have every summer! It’s one of our favorite things about living here. 

Staci: I’m so glad you invited me over to see it with my own eyes! I feel like I want to take a picture or video of it, but I know it won’t capture the true wonder of it all.

Dannah: You’re right about that, I’ve tried before. 

Staci: Okay, Dannah. Now, you’re gonna be pretty impressed with me because when you told me we’d be watching fireflies tonight, I did a little research to find out how exactly they light up like that.

It’s called “bioluminescence.” And fireflies aren’t the only things God created who do it. There are worms, squid, millipedes, algae, and even mushrooms that glow like these guys! 

Dannah: Wow, Staci, can you imagine being underwater and seeing a glowing squid?! 

Staci: I’m not gonna lie; I think that would freak me out, Dannah. But anyway, all those bioluminescent creatures glow because of a chemical reaction inside their bodies. Isn’t that cool? 

Dannah: It is!

Staci: Their bodies can do it anytime they get oxygen to the glow chamber. In the case of fireflies, it’s their little beetle bum!

For some species of fireflies, bioluminescence is the way they find a mate. Like using morse code, the male fireflies blink their pattern of light in a certain way. And when a female matches the blink, he begins to fly towards her. All the while they both keep flashing that matching blink. I imagine that boy firefly saying, “Keep the light on Baby, your knight in shining armor is on his way!” And it’s literally shining armor, Dannah, because fireflies are a beetle and have an external exoskeleton and, in their case, it’s literally shining! 

Dannah: Wow! You do sound like a science Geek, Staci, you know that right? 

Staci: Yeah. 

Dannah: When we look out over the field and see all those little guys, we’re seeing thousands of chemical love-reactions. 

Staci: And . . . all of that was designed by God to happen just like that, creating this lightshow for us tonight! I brought a Scripture to share, Dannah. 

Here’s today’s verse from Matthew 5, verses 14–16.

Dannah: Oh, Staci, that was perfectly timed! Fireworks in the distance to mark our Bible verse. 

Staci: It was. Now, these verses illuminate . . . see what I did there?

Dannah: I did.

Staci: Some truth about the character of Jesus Christ. Let me grab my flashlight to read this verse. Here’s John 1:1–5: 

In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him. 

Let me pause there and say that this is the beginning of the New Testament and it sounds like the beginning of the Old Testament. It reminds us that in the beginning God created everything. Kind of brings us full circle from episode one of this season, don’t ya think!? Well, today’s passage here in John says everything was created by “The Word.” That’s another name for Jesus. Jesus was present at creation making all these creature teachers we’ve been learning about! Okay, let me keep reading now.

The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.

This is so full of hope for us! Why? Because ever since sin entered the world, there has been darkness in it. People sinning and doing bad things to hurt each other. But all through the Old Testament there is a promise that a great light would come to break through the darkness. That light was and is Jesus. 

In John 8:12, Jesus says He is the light of the world and if we have Him, we have all the light we need to get through dark, sin-filled days! No matter how dark and full of sin this world might get—and we’ve sure had a few scary years—the light of the world will still shine. And the darkness can never overcome that light. Never ever!

Dannah: Now, that is pure campfire comfort, Staci.

Ya know, I’m thinking of another thing in the Bible. Matthew 5 says that we are the light of the world. Of course, that’s only possible when we have Jesus in our lives because He’s the true light. But Staci, look at all these fireflies sticking together. Do you think they’d be such a spectacular display without each other?

Staci: Probably not!

Dannah: Nope, we have got to stick together. We shouldn’t hide our lights under anything. That’s also in Matthew 5. Don’t hide the light of Jesus so no one can see it. We should let our lights shine so other people can see our lives and give glory God.

Staci: I don’t know about you, but sometimes I do kind of hide my light a little, especially if I’m afraid someone else is going to not like me if they think I’m a Christian.

But, just imagine for a minute that all those lightning bugs we’re looking at decided not to glow. How would that change things tonight?

Dannah: Well, it’d be super dark!

Staci: And True Girl, if people like you and I decided to hide our lights from people around us, those people might not ever see the beauty of the light of Jesus!

And I sure don’t want that to happen. 

Dannah: I don’t want that to happen either! So, we just have to let our lights shine so others can see who Jesus really is. We do that by the way we live, sharing our love for Jesus when we have a chance, and being kind to people. I think practical things like that go a long way to shine the light of Jesus in this world.

Staci: You’re right! Let’s do it! 

True Girl, sometime in the next few days, see if you can take a flashlight into a dark room in your house—like maybe a closet or something. Turn the flashlight on, and then turn it off. Think about how much better it is when the light is on. Ask the Lord for courage to let your light of Jesus shine brightly in your school, family, even your neighborhood!

And now when you see fireflies swirling around at night, they can be a reminder of how you have the light of Jesus inside you! 

Dannah: Yup. Those fireflies really do make normal summer nights special, don’t they?

Staci: Yes! Hey, do you want to know what else I learned about fireflies? 

Dannah: Of course!

Staci: Well, frogs enjoy snacking on fireflies, and if a frog eats a lot of them, it’ll actually start to glow!

Dannah: Like the frog will start to glow?

Staci: That’s what it said.

Dannah: No thank you to that.

Staci: But, Dannah, you love animals!

Dannah: That’s true, that’s true. I really do. But if a glowing frog hopped by my feet right now, well, let’s just say you would be cleaning up the s’more supplies by yourself!

Staci: Not if I saw the glowing frog first.

Dannah: Hmmm, maybe we should start to head in now, what do ya think?

Staci: I’m way ahead of you.

Claire: Looks like Dannah and Staci drew the line at the idea of seeing a glowing frog! Did you have fun learning about bioluminescence—God’s tiny chemical reaction that creates beautiful light? It was a great reminder that the power of Jesus in us creates a wonderful reaction in our world as we reflect His light. 

Well, go shine your light for Jesus, True Girl!

That’s it for season five of the True Girl podcast. Thanks for joining me, Dannah, and Staci for Faith Lessons from the Barnyard, where we learned about God’s power and character from . . . well, thousands of creature teachers. This season of the True Girl podcast was written by Janet Mylin and Dannah Gresh.

Until the next season, you can check out our on-demand Bible studies just for tweens at MyTrueGirl.com.

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.