let your light shine before others
Was reading this yesterday and something in me Amen-ed it:
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16
Isn't it amazing that Jesus already knew how his followers would need this teaching? How did He know that it is so easy for us to just slip under the radar into oblivion? We think that to survive and be "in the world but not of the world" means to just be a quiet Christian, to go about busying with our own business, to try not to offend anyone, to try and be a good person, and be content living our entire lives in this manner? Jesus says we are to protect our saltiness, preserve our distinctiveness, not fade into oblivion! A city on a hill cannot be hidden, a lamp belongs to the lampstand and not under the basket. Instead of trying to keep a low profile, Jesus is calling us to delibrately "let [our] light shine before others" so that our Father in heaven can get all the glory!!
To delibrately let our light out to shine before others...on first glance this seems like a narcissistic and proud move. But i think Jesus does not mean to say that we publicise our good deeds, but that we out-do everyone with good deeds and kindness. Not because we need to gain points with God, but so as to gain points for God! How will people ever glorify God if all we do is to fade into oblivion! There's this sense of pro-activeness that is missing in much of our Christian life. This is what it means to WIN souls for Christ. I think we should speak of evangelism as "winning people for Christ with the good news", because i think we have used that word so often that we have forgotten what it really means.
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16
Isn't it amazing that Jesus already knew how his followers would need this teaching? How did He know that it is so easy for us to just slip under the radar into oblivion? We think that to survive and be "in the world but not of the world" means to just be a quiet Christian, to go about busying with our own business, to try not to offend anyone, to try and be a good person, and be content living our entire lives in this manner? Jesus says we are to protect our saltiness, preserve our distinctiveness, not fade into oblivion! A city on a hill cannot be hidden, a lamp belongs to the lampstand and not under the basket. Instead of trying to keep a low profile, Jesus is calling us to delibrately "let [our] light shine before others" so that our Father in heaven can get all the glory!!
To delibrately let our light out to shine before others...on first glance this seems like a narcissistic and proud move. But i think Jesus does not mean to say that we publicise our good deeds, but that we out-do everyone with good deeds and kindness. Not because we need to gain points with God, but so as to gain points for God! How will people ever glorify God if all we do is to fade into oblivion! There's this sense of pro-activeness that is missing in much of our Christian life. This is what it means to WIN souls for Christ. I think we should speak of evangelism as "winning people for Christ with the good news", because i think we have used that word so often that we have forgotten what it really means.
posted by beloved at 8:32 PM
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