Let Your Light Shine – Part Two

Matthew 5:14-16

Little Gail in church for the first time was amazed by the characters depicted in the stained glass windows. “Who are those people,”  she whispered to her Mother.  “Those are Saints,” replied her Mom.  After church Gail said, “I know what saints are.  They are people the light shines through.” Right Gail!

All colors are caused by objects filtering or reflecting light.  Blue light is one of the shorter wavelengths and is dispersed by the atmosphere that makes the sky blue.

Lives are colored by Christ.  Filter out the bad and reflect the good.

Don’t put your light under a bushel, that is, hide it.

        A)      Unbecoming speech

        B)      Compromised lifestyle

        C)      Complaining nature

        D)      Unforgiving spirit.

“Let your light so shine…”  You are to let.  He is to enable.  We do not have to provide the light, Jesus produces it.

Light is not corrupted by what it shines on.  It may seem God has put you in an extremely dark place.  Where is light needed? Everywhere there is darkness!

James Madison is known as the “Father of the Constitution.”  Its ratification was unlikely because it gave no protection to religion.  A Baptist pastor, John Leland, was going to run against Madison.

At the time Virginia had imprisoned 500 Baptist preachers.  Their crime was simply not being a member of the state church of Virginia.

Leland and Madison met under an Oak tree in Richmond.  Today two streets corner at that spot.  Those streets are Leland and Madison.  There Madison pledged to Leland he would assure him the Constitution would have an amendment added to insure religious freedom if he would not oppose him.  Leland consented and thus the First Amendment resulted, guaranteeing religious freedom.  Unfortunately some modern jurists have failed to read it carefully.  It begins “Congress shall make no laws respecting the establishment of religion…”  Notice it restricts “Congress” not individual citizens.   Only Congress can violate the amendment.

Leland’s light shown.  Today many are trying and some with success to put it under a bushel.

“Your light,” not all are alike.  We differ depending on the light we reflect.  There are many rays of light.  As a prism breaks light down into different colors, so various personalities reflect different aspects of God’s glory.  We are not all expected to be alike. Let your light shine in the darkness today.