Matt 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine*~ before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.”
Whenever a person makes a bold claim, suspicion and curiosity are aroused. Can you imagine being lost in a deep jungle on a pitch–black night with no flashlight, when suddenly you see a flicker of light approaching?
Hope of rescue dawns within you, but doubts cause you to investigate the source before committing yourself. Once assured of rescue, the relief erupts in thankfulness as you run to the light.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). However, He was not to be the “light” alone, or for very long: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (9:5). The unsaved are in the dark: “If one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him” (11:10).
The light of Jesus’s presence must be within a person. Jesus told His disciples, “Believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (12:36). Jesus further clarified this analogy: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness” (12:46).
Jesus told His disciples, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matt 5:14). How cruel to hide the light from a world in need! So Jesus commands the disciples, “In the same way decide from now on to let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works.”
When needy people see a corresponding fountain of “good works” flowing from the light in a believer, their ideal response is to “give honor to your Father in heaven” (“honor,” doxaazo, is the origin of the word doxology, meaning “to recognize Him for Who and What He is”).
However, there is no guarantee: “judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil” (Jn 3:19NLT). But “if you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light” (Luke 11:36NLT). Those in the light live to validate the genuineness of Christ’s light through their sacrificial “good works” for those in darkness.
“Lord Jesus, Your Spirit lives in me, giving me the light of understanding through Your word. Guide me to allow that light to shine for the sake of those who do not know You.”