This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine;
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine;
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
This verse from a children’s song came wafting through my thoughts today, and I have sung it for most of the morning. I have not stopped to make all the hand/arm motions that go along with all the verses. But, God has turned my thoughts to our lights and our motions.
Jesus taught in Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” But, how does the world see our light? When I was a kid, I thought colored light bulbs were the neatest thing. I especially liked blue light bulbs because blue was my favorite color. I loved Christmas lights on the tree before the strings of clear lights became fashionable. All those colors twinkling on the tree added a sense of wonder to the season.
How do we let our light shine as Christians? Are our friends and family seeing the red lights of anger, the blue lights of depression, the green lights of envy, the yellow lights of cowardice, or the black lights of hate? Do they think we are just going through the motions of saying we are Christians? Maybe that is the problem. When we just go through the motions, it is our lights that are shining. We don’t shine with His clear, bright light. We seem to have a colored flashing light that lets the world know our mood or behavior at any given time When we love as He loved and serve as He served, then we let His light shine through us.
When we talk about letting our lights shine, we often overlook the phrase in the middle of Matthew 5:16 – “that they may see your good works.” If our lights are not shining the way God intended for them to, we are not doing any good works for the lights to shine upon. James 2:20 reads “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” If we are just going through the motions of saying that we believe, we have no works. If we have works and are letting His light shine through us, then we are glorifying Him.
As it is popular to say nowadays, “I’m just saying.”
Love it!
I didn’t expect the quick little turn on the colored lights–red of anger, etc., and you are so right! When we’re just going through the motions we’re showing our own colors, not His light. May a warm beam of Sonlight illumine your path today.
Thanks for your encouragement, Elaine.