I need help on a blog I am
putting together!
“In the
same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds
and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
I am working on a blog that I
probably won’t publish for a week or two, but when I was putting down some
thoughts this morning, I was struck by what this sentence actually says. In my
mind I had sort of shortened it to be something like - Do good works so people
will praise God.
But as I typed those words the
bounced right back off the page at me. Jesus did not say “do good works so men
glorify God,” at least not here. Rather the structure is similar to this sentence:
Shine the flashlight on the fuse box (ok, breaker box – is my age showing?) so
we can light up the room. I am using this sentence as an example for construct,
not necessarily a metaphor, but we could probably have some fun with that as a
metaphor too.
Here is where I am looking for
help: What does it mean to allow YOUR light to shine
exposing YOUR good deeds and causing men to praise YOUR Father in heaven?
Anyone want to shine some light
on this for us?
Thanks a ton for weighing in. I
bet if we all put our heads together we will each hear from God, and get some
LIGHT.
If you don’t have the ability to
add comments here, post to my facebook account and I will post here so we can
all share the insights in one place.
Again, Thanks for joining the
discussion.
Ben
A friend from Facebook writes: Point would seem that the intent is to tell us to live a lifestyle of good work and loving character, attributing goodness to Jesus "in you, the hope of glory," rather than merely doing a good deeds now and then, which anyone can do. I also think that it means to do the "stuff" ---heal the sick, etc. so that people will know there is a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The goodness of God leads men to salvation, so they have to see and hear the goodness of God.
ReplyDeletelive radically for Jesus!
ReplyDeleteGood Answer!
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