Let Your Light Shine

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven." - Matthew 5:14-16

Is my life shining before men? That was the question that came to me this morning as I was reading through Matthew 5:1-26. It initially arose in the context of my career, where I seem to find myself stymied and mired, feeling like I am spinning my wheels which leads to the incentive to not do much, which leads to me being not as productive as I should be at work.

The thing that caught my eye was the reason that we are to shine: not that it serves us primarily in any way but that it will bring glory to God in Heaven from others through what we do. The focus is not to primarily be on myself and my life, but on glorifying God through my life.

I realize that this is a relatively foundational level Christian truth and pretty vanilla-like in the context of spiritual truths in the modern world. But it seems as if it's one of the easiest ones to forget, at least for me. How often - often as in almost every day - do I wonder why I'm here, what I'm to do? Yes, it's perhaps not a complete answer but it's an answer, and if I can't do the simple things, how can I expect to do the big things?

The second thing present in this passage is the presumption that we will in fact be about "good works". One could fill in the blank here - it seems to me that part of what has bedeviled the Church is that so often "good works" are defined as a specific list of activities, and those which fall outside of them (typically charitable, not that those are not good) are considered "less good". But isn't part of good works doing "good work", work that is significantly better/more complete than that which the world does? In a sense we should do this in everything, because as Christ points out, we're really doing everything with two objectives: one the objective of the task at hand, the other the objective of glorifying God.

And look at the intensity of our work which is assumed: Let your light "so shine". Not just flicker, not just glimmer, not even just be present. Our light, our witness, our good work and good works are to be a blazing beacon to those around us - in the verses preceding this, Christ talks about His followers as "the light of the world", "a city on a hill", "a lamp on a lamp stand" - in other words, a light which cannot be hidden or ignored, a light which is useful by giving light to all around it.

Do I shine with that intensity every day? Do I do good works and good work not for the sake of myself, but for the sake of shining a lamp on God? Or when others look at me, am I a lamp under a basket consumed with my own petty struggles, of little use to anyone and not so shining to glorify God? Am I too focused on my life to let God shine through my life?