Growing up we swung our pointer fingers wildly in the air while loudly, proclaiming, that we will shine our light all over whatever town we lived in!
Can we really look at ourselves in the mirror today and proclaim that we are doing that very thing? Or are we hiding our light unwillingly?
Why Should You Stop Hiding Your Light?
Well, this question is very easy to answer. It’s the answer all 3 year olds declare as the answer to everything ever asked in Bible Class: “Jesus!”
Yes, we shouldn’t hide our light because Jesus told us not to. In Luke 11: 33, Jesus says,
No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.
Shine, friends, Shine! Don’t hide Jesus’ light that is in you!
Stop Hiding Your Light
Sometimes we do have a tendency to hide our lights. Why?
Because shining Christ’s light draws attention to us. It draws both positive and negative attention. Who wants negative attention? We are called to shine no matter what kind of attention we receive.
Moses Hid His Light
God used Moses in many amazing ways and one of those ways is for us to learn what not to do. Oh please, don’t get me wrong, Moses’ faith was amazing! He taught us how to follow God’s leading even when we are too scared to do it. But like us, he wasn’t perfect.
Sometimes he struggled as a leader to keep from letting the people’s reactions and actions bring him down.
We never let what other’s think bother us though do we? Of course, that crosses our minds sometimes. We can’t help it. We are human.
Although we want to please God rather than man, sometimes the human voices are screaming us down and we just want them to back off. It becomes at that point that we don’t want to stand out in a crowd any more than we already do.
Moses may have felt a similar way. When he had the privilege of being in God’s presence, he came back down from Mt. Sinai glowing. Literally, his face was shining! But then he covered it!
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him…
When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.
– Exodus 34:29-33
Reading this makes my heart said, and then it convicts me! Do I ever hide my light?
What will you let shine?
It’s interesting that in the rest of this passage Jesus explains that our eyes are the light of our body and we will be shining something. Jesus then urges us not to shine darkness! Until I reread that a couple of times, I did not realize that we had there was a third option:
- Hid Christ’s light
- Shine Christ’s light
- Shine the light of darkness
Oh, this gets me even more worked up? Doesn’t it you?
When we come into the presence of God, we are changed! That is what we want. We want to look less like ourselves, less like the world, and more like Christ himself. So when we are spending time with our Lord in his word, in prayer, and walking with him in our daily life, we will look different. Our light will be different.
But if we spend our time in the things of this world, as followers of Christ, we will hid our light or our light will start to dim.
Don’t shine darkness!
Who of us wants to shine for the devil? No one…willingly! Well, let’s say no follower of Christ willingly.
But that is very much what we will be doing if we are not shining for Christ. So let’s determine to be in God’s word.
#1 We must make sure we are shining the right light.
#2 – Let’s refuse to hid Christ’s light. Let’s ask for courage and boldness to stand strong even when the voice of popular opinion is speaking loudly against us.
This world is not our home, sisters! Shine brightly!
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.
Philippians 2:14-16a, emphasis added
Prayer Over our Hearts
Lord, we want to be a people that shine brightly for you like the stars in the sky. We do not want to hide your glory and your imprint on our lives.
Let us not be swayed by whatever the popular opinion is of the time, but let us be rooted in your truth. Leaning into your truth might lead us into a path of public ridicule, but if that happens, we can trust in your strength to walk us through it.
In the One who took lashings, mockery, death on the cross, and overcame death so we could walk in confidence – Amen!
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
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