The Christian Tightrope – Matthew 5

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.” (v. 16)

This verse is one of the most difficult tightropes you will ever have to walk. How do you let YOUR light shine but ensure that people praise and glorify the Father INSTEAD OF YOU? To be honest, I am not always sure how to accomplish this. As the AMPC version puts it, if people see your “moral excellence and praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds,” then it stands to reason that they will applaud you. After all, are we not to encourage one another and tell people when they do well? Yet, Jesus tells us to let our light shine in such a way (through our good deeds) that the Father is glorified. I have wondered deeply about this because we all struggle with that secret desire to get noticed, recognized, or that encouraging pat on the back. Making a huge show out of avoiding compliments can appear even more self-serving. Thankfully, Jesus gives us some insight in the same sermon.

In the next chapter, He tells us to avoid doing our good deeds publicly or before men to be seen by them. Sometimes, it can’t be helped, but as much as possible, if we do them in secret, then the deed is what is seen and not the doer of the deed. We do want our light to shine like a city on a hill at night, but the light is the deeds we do, not us. If people see the good deed but don’t see us, the glory goes to God. Think of when the power goes out at night, and things are thrust into total darkness. If someone lights a candle, the light captures our attention, not the candle itself. Yet, many of us have these decorative candles around our house that rarely get lit, and we buy them for the beauty of the candle or the scent. Yet, when things are completely dark, and a candle is lit, we care not for the beauty of the candle or even the scent. We care about the light and the fact that we can now see.

I learned years ago in the bush that a candle is best held high when you are walking in the dark. If you hold it before your eyes, the light blinds you, and you can’t see where you are going. However, if you hold it above your head where the candle is out of sight, its light makes things very clear as you walk on a dark path. That’s what we are aiming for. The light is what matters, not the candle or the one shining the light. When we give, pray, help, or witness, let it be something done secretly and in worship to Jesus. Let the light of that good deed reflect on Him and His goodness alone. That is how you shine your light before men but keep yourself in the shadows.