Let Your Light Shine

Hello faithful family, friends, and followers and thank you for joining us here. I thought I had decided on the direction for this week’s post, but then the tragedy of Wednesday happened here in Minneapolis. There are many things I then thought of saying, in the flood of emotions that surround this incident, but after much contemplation and prayer, I have decided that this week I will just leave the talking up to Jesus, with some added thoughts from Brennan Manning.

As Joy and I each began our read-through-the-Bible again this year, in the New Testament portion, we quickly came to Matthew 5 and Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.” While these are certainly timeless words, they are uniquely timely for the “times” we find ourselves in today…

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

I know I can find it tempting at times such as these to withdraw, isolate, and basically pull the covers over my head. But that is not what we are called to do. We are called to, “Let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven.”

Brennan Manning captures this principle so well when he writes:

Every time the Gospels mention that Jesus was moved with the deepest emotions, they go on to describe His doing something—feeding the hungry crowds, interceding with God, bringing physical or inner healing, deliverance or exorcism. The Good Samaritan was commended precisely because he acted. The priest and the Levite, paragons of correct theological understanding, flunked the crucial test because they didn’t do anything. The unglamorous and little-publicized works of mercy, the ministry of small things, feeding and sheltering, visiting the sick and incarcerated, educating, correcting, speaking a healing word, bearing wrongs, listening creatively, counseling, washing dirty feet, praying with people, are all ways of living the life of compassion. This is no minor matter.

Let me repeat that last part. “The unglamorous and little-publicized works of mercy, the ministry of small things, feeding and sheltering, visiting the sick and incarcerated, educating, correcting, speaking a healing word, bearing wrongs, listening creatively, counseling, washing dirty feet, praying with people, are all ways of living the life of compassion. This is no minor matter.”

So please remember this week and in the weeks ahead, that it is “no minor matter,” when you "let your light shine." 🙏🏻