LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE - Matthew 5:15
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ is commanding us to be a light unto the world around us. In the previous two verses, Christ compares our light to a city on a hill that cannot be hid, and to a candle in a house that is not hidden under a bushel. So likewise must our light shine.
Too many Christians desire to just simply get along with the world so they attempt to be just like the world and not let their light shine. By refusing to let your light shine, you not only are disobeying God, but you are also refusing to allow God to use you to bring others to HIM. It is because of your light that enables the world to see something different about you and to know that there is life when one chooses to serve God.
The light that you shine is not your own. Instead, God is the light and it is HIS light that must shine through you. Just as a properly cut diamond reflects the light, so too, when your life has been properly prepared by God, you too will reflect the light of God to a lost world. God will allow you to go through many trials so as to chip away many flaws in your life that prevent you from properly reflecting the light of God.
It is not easy to serve God and be a perfect instrument to reflect the light of God. You do want the best for your life? In the same way an Olympic athlete must spend years training to be the best so that they can have a moment to shine in the world, so also the process of God preparing you to be the best that you can be takes time.
The day you accepted Christ as your personal Savior, you did not instantly know everything God expects you to do. You live in a sinful world and sin has entangled your life. Some sins God may immediately release you from when you accepted Christ as your personal Savior, while others God desires that you learn to seek HIM and rely upon HIS strength to overcome.
The impurities of sin will diminish your ability to reflect the pure and perfect light of God. If you desire to be used of God to do great things for HIM, then you must be willing to go on the operating table of God and to allow HIM remove sin from your life.
When you take the time to add knowledge of the ways of God to your life, you allow God to show you the areas that are diminishing the light of God in your life. The more time you spend with God, the easier it will be for you to see how your life grieves God. Instead, you must learn to pray like Jabez who prayed that God would keep him from evil so that his life would not grieve God.
Until you learn to start living in the power of God, the power of sin will always be greater. Until you learn to submit your life over to God and allow HIM to show you the areas where your light is weak, you will not be obeying God by letting your light shine.
No one can make you shine your light. This is something that you must do for the glory of God. Remember, God desires obedience over sacrifice. You can do so much good for God, but if you are refusing to obey HIM by purifying your life so that your life properly reflects the light of God, then you are living in disobedience. The choice is yours; will you spend the time with God so that you know what it takes to allow your light to shine brighter for God?