Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a city set on a hill. I am a lamp put on a lamp stand. I am not meant to be hidden. I am not supposed to be under the bed or hidden under a bushel. I have been made light by my Redeemer, and He did this not for me to be locked away in a closet. No way. He made me light so that His light can shine ever so brightly everywhere. The whole purpose of salvation is the radiation of His light in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But how do we radiate the light? Some have taught that the way to shine is by constantly preaching His Word. Now, preaching is needful and necessary, but in this passage and this context, what Jesus had in mind was not preaching. The way Jesus is instructing us to shine is by our good works. The doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is a correct doctrine, but we must go on to show this faith by our loud and expressive good works. Doing good is not optional. Like our Father in heaven who does good to the good and the bad alike, we must be people that demonstrate the love and works of God lavishly on men. Someone whose life and character does not shine light of God cannot be a good ambassador for the kingdom. Someone whose character and behavior speaks volumes of love and goodness to men, will touch lives and attract them to the kingdom. So let\u2019s not just focus on preaching, let\u2019s go further to be very expressive of the love and goodness of God by our daily works of virtue and blessing to those around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLord, I need to be more spontaneous in showing Your good works. Lord, I need not wait for programs, but I need to allow Your virtues naturally flow through me into my world. Oh Lord, help me to be that bright light that unbelievers can see and thereby believe in Your goodness and love. This I pray through Christ, my Lord. Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matthew 5:16 (NKJV) \u201cLet your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.\u201d I am a city set on a hill. I am a lamp put on a lamp stand. I am not meant to be hidden. I am not supposed to be under the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-matthew"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t