Letting Our Light Shine

Matthew 5:14-15 (Today's New International Version)
Today's New International Version (TNIV)
© Copyright 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society
14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

This morning I started the day by praying about "places of compromise." As I did, I realized how easy it is to get off course, even in prayer, if we aren't listening carefully to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It's easy for it all to become about the means and not the end. By that I mean that the Enemy will infiltrate even our longing to know Christ if he can. Our human tendency is to focus on our self; our flaws and weakness, all of which distract from the the true goal.

So I adjusted my prayer and asked to be a vessel through which Jesus can be seen more clearly. I like to think of being a glove into which God can place his hand and touch others. I don't want the glove to be grimy.

A friend said to me yesterday that she wants to let her light shine; an analogy that Jesus used, saying that our light should not be hidden under a bowl (see Matthew 5:14-15 above). The bowl could represent the things in our lives that obscure the light of Christ. There was nothing in Jesus that clouded the glory of God.

Jesus was against legalism, which is the danger when we focus on "getting it right" ourselves, but he said about the law:"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."Matthew 5:17

He was talking about writing the law on our hearts, the law of love that causes us to bow our knees in glad obedience to him because we love him and want others to know him too.

Prayer: Lord, may every impulse be guided by this motivation, "to know you, and make you known." Moment by moment be my guide, my help, in the choices I make, the things I expose myself too, all for the glory of God.


Ephesians 2:8 (Today's New International Version)
Today's New International Version (TNIV)
© Copyright 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

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