Let Your Light Shine

January 11, 2023
Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
Matthew 5:16

Do you remember the children’s song This Little Light of Mine? Well, after you finish singing it, I would like to encourage you with what Jesus taught in his great sermon as noted in our text for today from the Gospel of Matthew; “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”.

What a wonderful thought, that whatever we do for the good of the Kingdom of God brings praise to God, not for ourselves, which would be a very brief experience, but to our Heavenly Father for eternity I have been greatly inspired by a devotional reading a friend gave to me. It’s entitled “Prophets of a future not our own” by Bishop Ken Untener. See if you can find the connection between the scripture for today and what the Bishop is relating; “It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are the light of the world, shining hope in someone’s darkness today. Maybe this is a good time to sing the song again.

AMEN