Who do we shine for? Matthew 5:14-16

In one of my recent posts I wrote about sharing with our children that Jesus wants us to be salt and light to the world around us.

Let us linger a little longer on this passage as we ask ourselves, Do people (especially our children) see Christ in me, or do they simply see a woman striving and stressing out “to do things for Jesus.” Do they see Jesus’ love flowing out of me?

I can be a bit klutzy in what I do, but if I had it all together like many people I know who always appear calm and collected as they busied themselves at one church function and another – if I could be one of them, would it be Christ they would see or would it be a “fine example of a Christian.”

Read the passage from the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5:14-16. We are charged to be as a light to the world by doing good deeds. And the bottom line, the reason we are to shine, is so people will praise God – not so they will praise us. 

What is the Spirit that motivates us? Is our passion to give glory to God and lead others to him? Or, is it to be successful doing things at church so we will receive praise? Matthew 6:1 tells us that if we do our good deeds to receive praise from people we have already received our reward.

Father God, help me to shine for you, not for myself. Help me to know the difference, to recognize those false motives when they raise their ugly heads, and to re-think what I am doing. Lead me, and help me to follow in the way that pleases you.