Keep Carrying that Candle
Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light that shines for the world to see. You are like a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. People don’t hide a lamp under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand. Then the light shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
Have you noticed how quick we are to argue, to prove our point, to win the debate? When it comes to faith, we can so easily slip into defending Jesus instead of simply showing Him.
American writer and speaker Beau Stringer recently said this: “The church is obsessed with being a light in the darkness. But light doesn’t argue with darkness. It just shows up. Jesus didn’t debate His way into hearts – He healed, He fed, He forgave, He wept His way in. Maybe so-called “evangelism” is less about convincing anyone than it is about carrying a candle into places where religion refuses to go.”
Is that perhaps what Jesus was meaning when He said this:
Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light that shines for the world to see. You are like a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. People don’t hide a lamp under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand. Then the light shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
Light breaks the darkness by its very presence. When Jesus walked the earth … yes, He preached – but principally, He won souls by loving people, practically, tangibly, deeply. He touched lepers, dined with sinners, forgave the guilty.
So, are you trying to argue people into the Kingdom or are you carrying a candle into their darkness; into places polite religion avoids? Because really, people don’t need winning debates. They need love that shows up.
And that’s our call: to live a life that shines Jesus into the shadows.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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