“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16
Every week I put up a new Bible verse to consider and ponder. No matter what is going on in life, the verses always seem incredibly appropriate and inspiring. This past week it was let your light shine. Fascinatingly enough, I found myself in conversations and situations that reminded me of this verse.
Enjoying a verse of the week is a wonderful way to see Scripture come to life in incredible and surprising ways. Life is so much more than busyness and racing from one thing to the next. This is our opportunity to be our best to help others and bring glory to God.
Bloom Where You Are Planted
We’ve heard the phrase and seen the fun signs – bloom where you are planted. To me, this is similar to letting your light shine. You step boldly into where God has you. You don’t fight things but gracefully make the best of what is. And you encourage those around you.
I’ve said it so many times, but life is about so much more than you or I. It is about representing God well and serving others. When we let our light shine before men, that means we are really stepping in to where God has placed us.
True we may still have hopes and dreams past the here and now (and I would even say that’s a good thing to have!), but we have a mission to fill now. Hopes and dreams will come in time, but what we do on the way to attaining them is just as important!
So don’t lose sight of your dreams, don’t lose hope for what’s ahead, but do step into the here and now completely and sincerely and let your light shine! With the right mindset, life can be an adventure you anticipate every day.
Good Works
“…that they may see your good works…”
Something hit me about that part of the verse. We are to let our light shine – be authentic and genuine and our best – before men, so that they may see our good works… We are instructed to do good towards others. I know it’s not revolutionary, but the wording struck me as interesting.
Just being authentically and genuinely ourselves is not enough. We must be the best version of ourselves, the most Christ-like that we can be. God wants us to reflect Him in our every effort, be it working checkout, chatting with friends, working construction, etc.
And this makes sense! So much of our relationship with God is reflected in a child’s relationship with their parents. Children who are well-behaved and do good (are helpful, good workers, no complaining, etc) represent their parents so much better than your average child.
And maybe that’s the point I’m trying to make, being an average Christian, being not-too-bad, that’s not excellence. That’s not living for God, but rather living for yourself. It’s not pride to want to be our best for God. If it was about being the best simply to be better than anyone else, that would be pride. But when the aim and the goal is to be the best version of ourselves, to do better than we did yesterday, to serve God and others better, that is what sets us apart from being average and helps us serve God in remarkable ways!
Bring Glory to God
So let’s step more fully into where God has us. Let’s knock it out of the park, the way we treat others, how we accomplish our work, how we tidy our areas. Let’s do it all for God, knowing He is a God of excellence. He is remarkable – and details and efforts are important to Him.
Instead of being satisfied with not-too-bad, let’s up the ante. Let’s let our light shine before men, that they may see our sincere and remarkable efforts and glorify our Father who is in heaven!
It’s not about hitting someone over the head with a Bible or throwing Bible verses at them all day long, but rather doing our best to represent God well. Ideally, our attitude and work ethic and life will paint a picture of us being a Christian far better than our having to spell it out for people.
Until Next Time!
Hope.
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