Submitted by Pastor Donna Clark Fuller, Rock Port and Watson United Methodist Churches

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

One of our beloved hymns is “This Little Light of Mine” with the words “I’m goin’a let it shine.” This hymn speaks to these words of Jesus telling us to let our light shine. Sometimes that is a hard thing to do. The first disciples had this wonderful message of resurrection and the life it brought to the world that was a true beacon of light in a dark world. But many people in that world did not want that message to be spread because it was a message that could threaten their power. And many were killed to keep that message from spreading. It didn’t work.

But Jesus is telling us not only to let the light of that message shine, He is also telling us to let our own works shine – our good works. We each have a special light of what we can do in this world. We each have been given unique ways that we can do good in the world and by those good works reflect God’s light to the world. We don’t live in the world that the first disciples encountered, but there are still those today who would quench the light in others. Sadly, some think that their light can only be seen if the lights of others are darkened. Jesus is not just talking to one person, though. He is talking to a very large crowd. He is saying to all of that large crowd to let their light shine.

Imagine if we all let the light of our good works shine out. What a great amount of light that would be! Each one’s light adding to the others, and no one trying to dim the light of another. That would be truly a great amount of light – enough to shine into all the dark places of the world.