Let Your Light Shine!
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your GOOD works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
It was a couple of days before “Halloween” and I was so ready to drop Matthew 5:16 right here, after weeks of having thought about it but never really having found the time to do so. The feeling to post this verse overwhelmed me one morning after a time in the Word, with The Lord. Soon after, I heard it on the radio, then came across it in a devotional and even in the pages of a secular literary work which I had long ago read without being particularly aware of its biblical references. The more I heard this verse from seemingly random places, the more I was convinced that God really wanted me to do something with it, beyond ensuring I was letting “my light” my “treasure in an earthen vessel” (2 Corinthians 4:7) shine. As we got closer to “Halloween”, the timeliness of the verse finally “dawned” on me! Oh, “Light”, during a time which is often associated with dark deeds…I get it! I was more than ready to publish and write about Matthew 5:16, and just as I was about to,…Wouldn’t you know it?…My phone died!! And with it, my internet connection! Wow! Satan’s kingdom must have felt pretty threatened by my impending mention of “The Light” (Jesus is The Light of the world”) and my encouraging fellow believers to let the reflection of God’s Light in them, shine so bright, that their GOOD works will be noticed and God will thereby be glorified. Psst!…You do know that Satan is “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience" ? (Ephesians 2:2). No wonder then that he could and would wreak havoc to prevent me from posting the mention of God glorifying “light”! and GOOD deeds. As I was consumed with getting my phone issue resolved and worked tirelessly to that end, publishing Matthew 5:16 took a back seat on my “to do” list and by the time my phone service was reestablished, “Halloween” had come and gone and with it, the opportunity to shine God’s bright Light of His Word on a celebration which is much in need of it. Because God is the same, yesterday, today and forever, and because He is in the business of redeeming the time (and opportunities) the enemy has happily and greedily devoured (Joel 2:25), I am seizing this day to regale you with the verse it seemed I would never get to share, and with it, encouragement to get through those tough times and count them “all joy” (James 1:2) as we recall that “All (not just some) things work together for GOOD to those who love the Lord, to those who are the called, according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,…” In closing, verses 14 and 15 are well worth mentioning as they remind us that the Light we have been given is not to be hidden but rather to be placed where it will benefit the many: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”