"You are the light of the world!"

Matthew 5:13-16

Anyone who saw the Sunday evening worship at National Youth Conference a few weeks ago will remember well the army of 3,000 glowsticks waving in Moby Arena to a jazzed-up "This Little Light of Mine." It was one of the highlights of NYC for me: such a breathtaking sight. Preacher Jim Myer exhorted everyone there to address each other with the pronouncement "You are the light of the world!" whenever we passed. I remember liking the idea, though also feeling awkward around people who weren't at Conference. It would be like they were looking in on an inside joke beyond their comprehension.

Nonetheless, what if the people of God actually embraced their light-giving identity? I found myself uneasy with these verses as I read them, both the metaphor of being salt and being light. I felt that my light was not shining as it could and my saltiness was not being tasted (sounds like a weird thing to want, "saltiness"). It seems Jesus point is that the blessings and Spirit-power God has given us should be shared with the world; the life we have been blessed with should expand through us into all the world. Yet, as today progressed, I came across some verses from the following chapter in good-old Matthew (6:1-15) that seemed to say something different. They are all about doing good deeds in secret and praying openly and honestly in private, rather than before others seeking attention.

So... we are supposed to let our lights shine... but in private??? That don't make no sense... Yet, I realize that these verses are meant to challenge different people at different times. Each of us becomes those different types of people at different points in our life/week/day so that all of scripture does apply to us eventually. Some people have been hiding their lights for too long for several reasons:
    1. Their own fault: laziness, selfishness, stubbornness (all personal sins)
    2. Other peoples' fault: low self-esteem, living in the shadow of others, feeling inferior, incompetent, or insufficient because of the abuse of others (all sinful acts of injustice)
    3. General confusion: maybe no one told them they were special, maybe they experienced failure or rejection when their light shone (all consequences of sin in the world)

Whatever the reason, we have all failed to let our lights shine as they should. Luckily, God's grace is so amazing... ;) ...that with his help, we can shine like the stars we truly are. Most Christians focus on grace (the UNDESERVED love of God) as that which forgives us of sin, gives us a clean slate, and makes us acceptable to God's holiness. While this is AWESOME!!!... its not all that grace does. Grace also gives us the undeserved power to be better than our sinful selves expect us to be, better than society around believes we can be, and ultimately better than anyone thought possible. ...Not perfect... ...but with Christ living in us, we can do some pretty incredible things!

As for the tension between letting our lights shine and doing good deeds in secret? I think its all about balance. So many things are about balance between extremes. The danger of shining brightly is that we begin to love the spotlight more than the service of shining for Jesus' sake. The danger of doing all good things in secret is that we don't reach as many people as we might otherwise, and we have little accountability to others.

But for today, friends, let your light shine... You are the light of the world!