“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16. In the same way let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.”
Do you consciously think of yourself as “the light of the world”? I have omitted some of the more obvious answers about what it means for us to be lights in the world that I have dealt with ad infinitum in CouchPotato articles.(In fact a lot of what I wrote yesterday on being “salt” could apply.) My aim in this article is make you think about what it means to be a light in the world. This is an expectation of Jesus. He is aware of how we live our lives, and it is serious to Him how we live our lives. Look at the wording in the text: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.” Jesus did not say, “It would be nice…..” He said “let your light so shine….” This should be our own expectation. We should be disappointed in ourselves when we are not shining for Jesus. I’m not attempting to make you feel guilty about your life. My point is that shining as lights in the dark world should be important to you, because Jesus was serious about it. This is an expectation of the world. I don’t think that we need to live just to make a good impression on people, or to try to please everyone. However, on this point we need to consider what people think of us. An illustration of this is the failure of some high profile Christians who have been “dim bulbs.” They made headlines, because they did not live up to what they preached or taught. None of us will be perfect lights, but we should certainly be real careful how we live. On a smaller scale, not of less importance, is the impression that some churches have made on their communities because they did not shine as lights for Christ. Without really knowing why, I think that the world is disappointed because they expected better of us. Jesus expressed the ultimate expectation of our lights shining: “….that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven.” The idea is that when we let our lights shine; people should see beyond us and give glory to God. Unlike the Pharisees in the New Testament, we need to shine for God and not just to make an impression on people. I am certainly not assuming that you are a “dim bulb.” That’s for you to decide. Think about it. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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