“Thus, your light must shine before men so they might perceive your good work and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

(Matthew 5:16)

Sadly, we sometimes miss the imperative nature of Jesus’ command here. Many translations render this as “let your light shine…,” which, while accurate, does not place the kind of force that our Lord places upon these words. Jesus is not making a suggestion here; he is issuing a command. Many people are taught that while it is good to have faith, the faith you have is a personal thing and should be kept under wraps. Folks, that sentiment is neither Jesus’ sentiment here nor is it the teaching of the Bible in any place. The faith you have must be seen as a light amongst men, and in a sinful and darkened world that surrounds us as it does, the light of Christ should be as a beacon or a lighthouse to those all around you.

The application to Christ’s church should be an obvious one. When the world seeks truth, the church should be the natural place for the world to come. When the world seeks answers, it is in the context of the truth that the Light of God’s Word can shine and answers can be revealed. When the world is so filled with preference and compromise, it ought always be in the church that compromise is revealed for what it is and unadulterated truth can be found. How sad it is that so many churches these days seek to imitate the world’s darkness rather than seeking to shine the Truth of God’s Word. 

When the world is lost in darkness, how will they distinguish what is true if the church does not stand as a beacon of God’s Word? The world knows accomodates to the liking of every man; how shall it know what is true if the church does the same? The world is fickle, and its tastes change, but the Word of God is fixed like a rock and will not shift like sand. Yet, the moment the church compromises that which the Word sets forth, it ceases to keep its footing upon the rock, and the fall is most often fatal. Folks, understand, making compromises tends to be easy because compromises are meant to accommodate folks around us and take the edge off what is true that we profess. Yet, compromise is hard to back-pedal from once it is made. Beware the danger of compromising God’s Word; indeed, we are often surrounded by groups that have done just that and our culture is drowning in a quagmire of partial-truths. How will the world see our God in heaven if our works are simply our own?