I taught a version of this to the high school kids at my church.
If you have these three requirements, you can’t help but “shine your light.” It’s almost inevitable. The bad news is that all three requirements take a lifetime of practice to master. But if you start now, you’ll be further along than if you did nothing, which is true for all of life, even if you fail. Sometimes, especially if you fail.
The 1st Requirement For Shining Your Light
The key verse:
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, 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 give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16
The “light” in these verses is not “good works.” This misconception is common. The light is how other people see your good works, not the good works themselves. The light shines on them so they can actually see what’s going on. Good works don’t necessarily have a luminance of their own. Good works, can, in fact, be dull and lifeless.
Good works done for the wrong reason. For example, to accrue glory to yourself or to shame someone or to put them into your debt. Motive matters.
Good works done with a bad attitude. These are the opposite of light and cast a dark shadow. A bad attitude oozes and infects everything surrounding it.
The verse says you are the light. So, where does your light come from? First, it comes from God, who is the source of all light. Without his Spirit, we could not shine at all.
But also consider 1 Corinthians 13:1-7:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love is part of what this light is. Bearing all things. Not irritable or resentful.
Without love, no one is actually going to see your good works, and they certainly won’t glorify your Father in heaven because of them.
The first requirement: LOVE.
Love of God. Love of neighbor.
The 2nd Requirement For Shining Your Light
To understand the second, you must first reconcile a supposed contradiction. Matthew 6:1-6:
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
If you do your good works in secret, how are people supposed to see your good works? To answer this, look at Daniel 6:1-11.
Daniel has risen high in the kingdom. His enemies, envious of his success, scheme to entrap him. They convince the king to make a law requiring all petitions, including prayers, to be made to the king alone for a period of 30 days. Breaking the law was punishable by death.
Daniel’s response:
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.
Daniel performed his “good work” where all could see it, especially his enemies, who then accused him. Would Jesus have scolded Daniel for not praying in a closet? If not, what was the difference between what Jesus was talking about and what Daniel did?
The Pharisees received good esteem for praying in public. Daniel received the promise of death. It cost Daniel something to pray where he could be seen. He could have shut the window and waited the law out for 30 days. That would have been the prudent, pious thing to do. Hunker down. Keep his high position so he could possibly help more of his fellow Jews. Instead, he was willing to pay everything to continue what he had been doing previously.
As a result, God was indeed glorified through Daniel, and from the very mouth of the king Daniel served.
The second requirement: COURAGE.
What good is love, what good is any virtue, if you don’t have courage?
From C.S. Lewis:
Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.
You can’t think your way to a virtuous life, a shining light. You have to do. And for that, you need some courage.
If you don’t have courage, none of your virtues will ever see the light of day. They will always be hidden. You won’t be doing any good works, or you’ll only be doing the culturally approved good works, or only the ones that don’t really matter. You’ll be glad to fight the battle on the East side of the wall while the Barbarians are attacking the West side of the wall.
If you really want to shine bright and have a real, lasting impact, you need courage. You need to be willing to lose it all to do the right thing. Lose a friendship. Lose a job. Lose your life.
Revelation 21:8:
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
The cowardly are condemned (and first in the list!) with the faithless, the detestable, murderers, liars, and more. A lack of courage is a terminal diagnosis.
Cowards come in many forms. They always call for “moderation” or always hide behind bureaucracy. For them, the time for action is always later, and any risk is too great. Most cowards today will try to pass their cowardice off as a virtue.
For further thoughts, I recommend listening to this essay by Joshua Gibbs called “Cowardice in Peacetime.”
I’ll end this section with 1 Chronicles 12:32:
Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.
To be true lights to the world, you must be like the men of Issachar. You must strive to understand the times so you are equipped to know when courage is called for.
The 3rd Requirement For Shining Your Light
The final requirement has to do with the nature of good works themselves. When you think of a “good work,” what comes to mind?
Usually spiritually sounding stuff. Praying. Volunteering. Visiting orphans and widows. Giving enough money in the collection plate.
But what about plumbing?
What about homework and studying for school?
What about working as a cashier at Chick-fil-A or Panera?
Let’s say you’re a plumber. Someone hires you to install a new toilet in the upstairs bathroom. A week later, water is dripping down the ceiling because you didn’t do it right. Maybe you took some shortcuts.
If the person who hired you learns that you’re a Christian, what are they going to think about Jesus or about the church you go to?
You would be doing the opposite of shining a light.
But what if you did an excellent job on their bathroom and got it done faster and cheaper than you quoted? And when you left, everything was cleaner than when you arrived? What impression would that leave?
Bring it closer to home. You sleep in class half the time and almost never turn in your homework. If your teacher is looking for a light, is she going to be looking in your direction? Probably not.
If you are on a sports team and you don’t do your best, it's clear you don’t really care about winning; you’re not really trying; you don’t run hard during the sprints; you aren’t locked in during the drills…are your teammates going to care about anything at all that you have to say?
Good works are any work your hands find to do.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (emphasis mine)
Colossians 3:23-24
The third requirement: EXCELLENCE.
People will only be looking your way if you are excellent at something. That’s why people were paying attention to Daniel in the first place. He had outlasted an Empire and several Kings. He was the consistent official through all of the turmoil, and then one of the top 3 officials in the land.
Joseph is similar. Because the Lord was with him, he was successful in everything he did. It says that specifically several times in Genesis 39. Joseph’s work was managing a household, managing prisoners, and managing a nationwide preparation for a famine. These are not things you would classify as “spiritual,” but they were good works that got him noticed in many ways.
Not all of the attention he got was good attention, which is why you should expect to be persecuted, and you should be prepared to rejoice when it happens.
But people were watching.
To be a light, people have to be looking. Their eyes have to be open. A light does no good to someone whose eyes are closed. One of the best ways to ensure their eyes are open is quiet competence and excellence.
Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
Proverbs 22:29
So, three things to help you shine your light.
Love. Courage. Excellence.
And if the times are dark, take heart. When is it easier to see a light? In the middle of the day or in the depths of a dark cavern? In the dark, even the smallest light is easy to see. In the dark, it’s easier to be a beacon. It doesn’t take much.
The darker the times are, the easier it is to stand out.
You were born for such a time as this.