Let Your Light Shine, Part 1

Read the introduction to this series here.

Text: Matthew 5:16

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Topic: Let Your Light Shine

What is light? My personal definition of light is that it is that it is something that overwhelms, defeats and conquers darkness.

No matter how tiny the light even if it’s only a pinprick it cuts through the darkness. Darkness will never overwhelm a light that is brightly burning unless the light yields to the darkness. As Christians it is important that we let our light shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. It is easy at times to try and blend in with our surroundings but as Christians God is calling us to stand out from the crowd and let His light be reflected in our lives.

Below is a short story that I will refer to several times as I share with you what I shared with the youths at my church.


Alicia's Light

As the evening grew darker Alicia became more and more afraid. She was totally lost and had no idea which direction to turn. She had decided to take a short cut to her friend K’deidra’s house. This was a walk that Alicia had taken many times. However this night she was deep in thoughts. She had something on her mind that she wanted to talk to K’deidra about. Consequently, Alicia ended up missing her turn to K’deidra’s house and walking down a dark deserted looking area. To top it off it seemed like the electricity went off because she could only see darkness all around her.

Alicia grew more and more afraid because she could not make out any familiar landmarks to pinpoint exactly where she was. As she started to panic she heard a quiet voice within her say “Alicia, let your light shine.”

"Oh, thank goodness," Alicia whispered to herself, "I put my flashlight in my bag for just in case it got dark before I reached." She took the flashlight and turned it on, nothing happened. She tried again, still nothing happened. Alicia gasped in horror, "I forgot to check my batteries and they’re dead. What am I going to do?"

As Alicia stood there, she saw a tiny light but as she started to approach it flickered a few times then went out. By this time the tears were pouring down Alicia’s cheeks. She was terrified, she couldn’t see where she was going and she was afraid to call out because she wasn’t sure who exactly was out there.

“Jesus help me!” Alicia cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I’m scared, I don’t know what to do help me.”

It seem that no sooner that the words came out of Alicia’s mouth that she saw a bright, steady light in the distance. As the light came closer towards her she heard a voice calling her name. Alicia quickly began to walk towards the light. As she got closer she realized that it was her friend K’deidra and her parents. There had been a power outage and they realized that she must have taken a wrong turn in the dark and had come to look for her.

"I’m so glad to see you!" Alicia cried as she hugged them, "thank God you had a light because my batteries are dead."

As they walked towards K’deidra’s house Alicia realized that she was nearer to the house than she thought, but she must have been going around in circles because of the darkness.

“Next time I’ll be prepared,” she thought. "I’m going to check my batteries often, I’m going to make sure that my light shines, what if K’deidra’s light had gone out too?"

As they walked she toldK’deidra about how she had seen a light but it flickered and went out and how she called to Jesus to help her. K’deidra gasped, “You’re not going to believe this. When we started looking for you the light started to flicker a bit and get dim. It seem like the battery was low but all of a sudden it just came on brighter than ever. Do you think it was because you prayed?”

Both girls grew quiet and reflective. They began to realize the importance of light, not a flashlight, a candle or a lamp but the inner light that comes from knowing Jesus Christ. They realized that the light that shone from within them could lead someone to choose a better path in life. They also realized that a flickering light or dead light was no help to anyone because it couldn’t be depended upon during difficult times.

The most important thing K’deidra realized was that her light wasn’t only for her it was to give others hope as well. "Just think she told Alicia, your getting lost taught us both a lesson, isn’t God good?"



As you read the story you may have thought to yourself, “That’s silly! I’d never get lost walking to my friend’s house. However that little story has several life lessons in it, and over the next week I'll discuss some of them.