Jesus said, “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
inheaven” (Matthew 5:16). Our responsibility as Christians is to stand out in society, not because of our greatness, but because of our unique distinction. It must be a distinction that draws attention to our Father rather than us. Jesus not only tells us to let our light shine, but He tells us why we should. The purpose of our distinctness is for man to see our good work and glorify God.
Everyone is different in some way. What should be unique about our distinction as Christian? One distinguishable thing that makes us shine in society, is how we walk. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
This is a unique way of living. The statistician puts his confidence in numbers. The scientist puts his confidence in testable explanations. The teacher puts its confidence in books. The man of God, however, puts his confidence in the invisible attributes of God. This is what faith is—the assurance of things hoped for, and the convictions of things not seen. True faith is a rare commodity in this world of skepticism and doubt, and when one demonstrates it and lives by it, he is going to stand out in the crowd.
Do you know who Shammua was? Have you ever heard of Shaphat or Igal, Palti, Gaddiel or Gaddi? You probably aren’t sure who these men are. What if I told you they were Bible characters? That narrows it down some, but you still don’t know who they are, do you? Let me give you the names of a couple other Bible characters and see if you know them. Their names are Joshua and Caleb. Do you know them? Of course you do. When 12 Israelite men were sent into the land of Canaan to spy out the land, they were the only two who came back and told the rest of the Israelites that they could overcome the inhabitants of the land and take possession of it, even though they were outnumbered and overmatched. They knew they could do it because they walked by faith. To Bible students these two men are immediately recognizable because their faith caused them to shine.
By now you probable have figured out that the other men I mentioned are five of the ten spies who brought back an evil report. Do you know why you didn’t know who they were? It is because they walked by sight, and people who walk by sight are a dime a dozen. You can’t pick them out of a crowd because they are the crowd. Their light doesn’t shine because they live in darkness. Joshua and Caleb separated themselves, not just in the mind of the people, but in the eyes of God, because they walked by faith and shined. That doesn’t mean they were popular at the time, in fact, the people actually picked up stones to kill them. In the end, however, they were the only two out of thousands of people to enter the land of promise. Let’s be like Joshua and Caleb. Walk by faith and shine.
Don