Let Your Light Shine

As a young pastor I had just arrived to shepherd a country church in Northern Iowa.  We were a little white church on a hill located only 7 miles from the famous Little Brown Church in the Vale, in Nashua, Iowa.  The church was on a highway, and truckers would drive by the church at all hours of the night.  I noticed that the church had a neon sign above its front door.  The problem was that the light had gone out and the sign couldn’t be read anymore in the dark.  I approached a guy in our church who was a pretty good handyman to help see what could be done about getting the sign light back on.  Leroy opened the sign and discovered frayed wiring and old birds’ nests and other debris in the back of the sign.  After cleaning it up and restoring the wiring the day came when we were able to turn the sign back on.  That red neon sign lit up magnificently and illuminated the countryside with its message.  After that, everyone driving down highway 188 could not help reading that 5-word scarlet message: “Christ died for our sins”.

Have you ever thought about the fact that each believer is a sign? We should be boldly proclaiming that Christ died for our sins.  Our lives should brightly display the character of Jesus, and our lips should loudly proclaim Him as our Savior.  But I am afraid that sometimes people cannot read the message from our lives about Jesus.  Sometimes our broken relationship with our Heavenly Father dims the light.  Often sin like an accumulation of bird nests keeps the light of Christ from being seen.  Jesus told us that we are the light of the world in Matthew 5:14. Light is meant to be seen not hidden, yet many of God’s children have hidden their light.  Jesus desires for all of His disciples to: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”.

Has your light gone dim?  Perhaps it’s time for some much-needed spiritual cleansing.  His glory needs to be displayed.  Let your light shine!