Stop Hiding Your Light
“You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
“Know that the LORD, He is God; it is he who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” Psalm 100:3
Reading Matthew 5 this morning really stirred me to think about my own life and my own walk with Christ. Jesus tells us that “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand…” (5:14), but more often than not, I am one who hides my light.
At some point in my life, I got attached to the idea that it was better to squelch my own life and spirit because I didn’t want to hurt or offend other people. I bought into the idea that I shouldn’t share so much about my relationship with Jesus because I didn’t want my unbelieving friends to think I was being “too preachy”; I should keep my own celebratory moments, the good and beautiful things that God is doing in my life, to myself because I don’t want to hurt my friends who are wishing and longing for the same gifts.
While I definitely always want to be caring and aware of others, what this really does is squelch my praise to God and keep me hidden and quiet. Jesus doesn’t call us to live that way.
He tells us that we are light and asks us to stand up and shine, not for our glory, but for God’s. “Every good and perfect comes from above,” Scripture says (James 1:17). We are blessed by God because we are His and because He loves us.
I want to be a daughter who praises her Dad for his good gifts and for the way he comes to heal and rescue me. I don’t want to keep hiding my light. And that’s my prayer for all of us, that we would choose to stand and let that light point back to God so that others might see Him, know Him, and encounter His great love.