Daily Devotional for Tuesday 7th May
Let your light shine
If you’ve been camping, you may know the annoying moment of needing the toilet in the middle of the night. It’s dark, trip hazards all around and usually cold and wet. The first thing to do in this moment is to reach for your torch. Light allows us to see the problems in front of us and it helps us know where we are going and what to avoid. If you’re the only one in your group with a torch - they can often be very grateful for your forward thinking. Now imagine you have your torch but you never turn it on or you cover it up. Seems crazy doesn’t it? This is why Jesus used this analogy to how we should use our light inside us. We have a beautiful opportunity to shine into dark places where Jesus is rejected and not heard of. In John 1:5 it says, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Has the darkness ever taken over your torch? Has it ever been too dark for a light to work? Never. Jesus is our light and darkness will never overcome us because he is with us Heb 13:5 because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”.
In the second part of this passage Jesus talks about being careful what we hear. Matthew 15:17-18 says, Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. Jesus wants us to be spiritually feeding on good things. It’s so easy to read newspaper articles or Facebook posts and be drawn in. Has what you read made you feel angry or upset? What goes in us will flow out of us through our emotions and it can be really easy to get lost in it. God wants to feed us good spiritual food like his word, spending time with good solid Christian friends and praying to our Heavenly Father. The more we do this, the more God can bless us.
But why are verses 21-23 linked with 24-25? If we don’t shine our light, how can we see what is spiritually damaging to us? If we live in darkness, how do you know what is in front of you? Shine your light in the world so not only can others see Jesus through you, but also so you can see the difference between what Jesus is offering, and what the world is offering.
Time to reflect…
Have there been times in your life or recently when you have hidden your light from others? What things can you do to help reveal this light to others?
Pause to pray…
Jesus, we pray for you to shine through us. Help us be faithful to your voice when we speak to those who need to hear the good news. Help us not hide away from opportunities to speak your gospel but to step up to it with confidence. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
