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.    Matthew 5:14-16 LSB

In this Scripture passage, Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount and has just given the Beatitudes, where Jesus explains that we will be blessed for our suffering here on earth for His name’s sake. He lets us know that our reward will be great in heaven.

He says we are the salt, but if salt becomes tasteless it’s useless. In the same way, a light that is hidden is useless. We are no strangers to storms here in southeast Louisiana. Power outages often accompany these storms. I have often had to have candles to light the house. I can tell you when it’s dark, I want that candle up on a counter or somewhere where it will give much-needed light.

My friend we live in a dark world. We need light. If you are a Christian, you need to be the light. Jesus tells us we must let our light shine before men. We do this by doing good to the glory of God the Father.

In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love is not optional. He doesn’t say to love those who love you. He doesn’t say love those who are easy to love. He says to love one another.

One thing I try to keep in mind is there are times when I am an enemy to Christ. When we sin, when we favor the world over Jesus, we are His enemy. That doesn’t mean He doesn’t love us. He loves us in spite of ourselves.

For our light to shine, we must love like Jesus loves. We must forgive like Jesus forgives us. We must humble ourselves.

I use the term true salvation a lot. This is because I believe there is also false salvation. That is when we go and make a public profession of faith, but don’t really intend to change the way we live our lives. True salvation comes with repentance. It comes with heartbreak over the sins you have committed, and it comes with dedication to Jesus Christ.

When we are truly saved, we want to do good works to bring glory to God the Father. We want to walk and talk in a way that brings Him glory, honor and praise. We hunger and thirst for Him and His word. When we do these things, our lights shine before men.

Now in the book of Revelation, John writes to seven churches. These churches are represented by lampstands in chapter 1, verse 13. In verse 20, Jesus explains that the seven lampstands are the seven churches. My friend, today, we are the church. The church is the members not the building.

Is your light shining for all to see? Is it shining bright enough to lead others out of the darkness? Or has your bulb grown dim? Our bulb grows dim when we play at being Christians.

You need to understand that we are called to make disciples. We are called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ and to light the way to Him. If we don’t do this, we are useless.

A light with a burned-out bulb is useless. It doesn’t shine light. It doesn’t lead anyone out of darkness. Have you become useless to Jesus?

If so, you can turn back to Him. You can confess your sins to Him. You can ask Him to strengthen you and help you to do what you need to do to shine for Him. He will be glad to help you with this.

Have a great day!