As Christians, we should have a positive influence on the world.  No one ever taught this truth more clearly than our Lord did in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV)
¹⁴  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

We must not live such secluded lives that we have no impact on the world around us.  Our good works should be seen, not to elevate us, but to glorify God.  Christians being lights to the world was a point of emphasis in the writings of Paul.

Ephesians 5:8 (ESV)
⁸  For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

How do we walk as children of light?  We do it by living according to the moral standard of the gospel of Christ.  It does not mean that we never sin, but it does mean that we have no lingering sin in our lives.  We do not live in sin, or, as Paul put it in Romans 6:12, we do not allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies.  In this way, we are letting our light shine for the world to see.

Philippians 2:15 (ESV)
¹⁵  That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

It is only when we live lives that are without blemish that we can maintain fellowship with God.  John reminds us that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  This is why we cannot walk in darkness and claim to have a relationship with God (1 John 1:5- 6).  As long as we are walking in the light, allowing our light to shine in this crooked generation, our fellowship with God is intact.

1 John 1:7 (ESV)
⁷  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

We must not be ashamed of who or what we are.  A hidden light does not do anyone any good.  Jesus warns us that if we are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of us when He comes back in His glory (Luke 9:26).  Let us allow people to know who we are and what we stand for, and let us be sure to back it up by our living.  Enoch was a great example of this.  He let his light shine by warning people of their ungodliness (Jude 1:14-15), and by living a life that was pleasing to God.

Hebrews 11:5 (ESV)
⁵  By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

Pleasing God was the testimony of Enoch’s life.  He did not have to go around telling everyone how godly he was; they saw it by the way he lived.

We are lights in the Lord.  Our light is really the light of Christ reflecting off of us and shining on the world.  In other words, our light is shining when the world sees Christ living in us.  Let’s all make sure we are living up to Jesus’ description of us as light.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.