Shine the Light

“Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”  Matthew 5:14

Last Saturday I went to the local music store for my regular Saturday afternoon guitar lesson.  It was time to pay the next month’s fee so I went to the front desk.  One of the young men whom I usually see on my lesson day was working the check out area and favorably commented on the jacket that I was wearing.  I told him that I bought it at a thrift store.  You can tell that it was handmade by someone and not a clone manufactured on an assembly line.  It is navy blue with very colorful pieces of other fabrics in a quilt-like pattern across the upper front.  I said, “Yeah, I like it.  It’s very colorful and warm.”  I paid my fee, and as I walked back to the lesson waiting area, he said, “It makes you stand out.”

The thought went through my mind as I continued on through the store, “I don’t want to stand out.”  I don’t like to call attention to myself.  I had rather blend into the background, work behind the scenes, stay off the grid, and just basically not be noticed.  But then, later on, I thought “That’s the problem with us Christians.  We don’t want to stand out, be noticed, or rock the boat.”  No wonder Satan is having so much success.

I remembered a little story I heard a long time ago.  A little boy was in Sunday School, and his teacher was telling the children that when a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He comes to live inside that person.  The little boy, with a puzzled look on his face, raised his hand and asked, “But, if Jesus is living inside of me, won’t He stick out?”  Exactly.  If Jesus is living inside of me, shouldn’t He stand out as I go about my daily routine?  Instead of lurking in the shadows trying to be incognito, shouldn’t I rather be letting people know of the new life that they can have in Christ?

I should stand out in a way that displays Christ as the One to be noticed and not me, not in a “holier than thou” way nor in a judgmental or arrogant fashion, but as a humble servant filled with gratitude for my life as lived in the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.  There are some folks whose zeal to see others come to faith in Christ present their witness in a harsh and insensitive manner, you know the ones to which I am referring, the “turn or burn” folks.  This judgmental presentation of the gospel only causes people to ridicule and reject this form of witnessing.  While it is true that there’s a “heaven to gain and a hell to shun”, the gospel must be presented in a truthful and loving manner.  Besides, it is not our job to convict others of sin.  That’s the job of the Holy Spirit.  Our job is simply to tell what living for Christ means to us.

Our lives are a living testament to the power of the gospel.  We need to let our “little light shine” and be a faithful and kind representative of Jesus Christ so that others will be attracted to us like moths to a porch light in order that we may tell them about Jesus.