Let it Shine, Let it Shine!

I've been thinking about what it means to shine...

In Matthew 5:16 Jesus says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." A few verses before that He said, "You are the light of the world." I Thessalonians 5:5 reminds us that "You are all sons of light and sons of the day."

So what does that mean? What is the light that we are supposed to be shining?

I remember as a kid someone took a glow stick (that plastic tube with a glass ampule inside that you bend and break so the two chemicals mix and it glows a green light for 20 minutes) and cut it open and spread the chemical around his mouth and on his face. In the dark he glowed - not really shined - but is that what we are supposed to do? Maybe not....

Let's go back to the first text: "Let your light shine so people see your good works..." Part One (letting your light shine) results in Part Two (people seeing your good works). Something about letting your light shine causes you to do good things, and people will notice those things. Notice that it doesn't say "Make your light shine." It says, "Let it shine." To me that means something happens that, as part of the transformation, the result is a "shining" that you allow to burst forth. But what is it that happens that causes the light to start shining?

It can't be something that happens naturally. Our sinful natures are far from beacons of light. So something has to transform us.

Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again (or "from above."). He made it clear it was not something that he could do on his own. Peter says "...having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever..." (I Peter 1:23).

Just like the fact that we cannot cause ourselves to be born again, this process is completely outside of our ability to make it happen. We can't do it. But we can be willing to submit and let God do it for us!

Imagine this! We are lost in the darkness and cannot find a way out. But Someone comes and says, "Hold on to My hand and I will lead you out of this darkness." All we can do is grasp on and follow. And as we walk we see that we are starting to change. Perhaps it starts with a lessening desire to go our own direction, and we start to enjoy the warmth of the hand that we hold. And something else is happening. We realize that we were not just in the dark - we were also blind, but we are starting to see. And we are starting to glow!

Now can you imagine saying this? "...giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated (transferred) us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:12-14)

Now does Matthew 5:16 make more sense? When we take God's hand and accept the gift of salvation - redeemed through the blood of His Son - we begin to change. Rather than hold it back, we let and even embrace the change, and we are transformed. The more we become like true members of His family, the more we become like Him, and Part One (letting our light shine) begins to take over. And people start to notice (Part Two). And they start asking questions.

That is when Part Three starts: "...and glorify your Father in heaven." Not because anything that we have done, but who we have become. All glory goes to God!

And that's how you know your light is really shining!

God bless you abundantly!