Yes, you are the light of the world
Have you ever noticed the difference between the way Jesus preached and the way some people preach today? Jesus said to everyone: You are the light of the world.
I’ve heard too many sermons and seen too many videos online where a passionate preacher lambastes his listeners with the “You are a miserable sinner” label.
This is not the way Jesus preached to the people who came to hear his message. He did acknowledge their need to repent, but he saw them through a different lens than that of “miserable sinner.”
Jesus told his listeners instead, in the Sermon on the Mount,
You are the light of the world. Matthew 5:14 NIV
That is a VERY different message. In fact, it’s just the opposite of being a miserable sinner.
Jesus said you are the light, not the darkness
Jesus told his listeners they were not part of the problem but part of the solution. He was encouraging them to think of themselves as a power for good in the present and the future. He was not dwelling on their past mistakes. His words are for you and me today as well.
Jesus wasn’t pretending we don’t have problems or that we haven’t sinned. But his focus was on who we are as God’s children and the potential that can be in our lives as we obey God in our daily interactions with the world.
So Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” What does that even mean? What is the light of the world?
Light is energy. It does not generate itself but comes from a source. Light is invisible until it hits an object, then illuminates that object so we can see it. And in doing so, warmth is created, more or less, depending on how bright and powerful the light is.
Jesus says you are the light of the world. Think about that for just a minute. We’re not just some bundle of flesh and bones.
You are the light
We are actually light, spiritual light, which does not generate itself but comes directly from God. When we shine this light on someone or a situation, it helps us see things more clearly and respond with love instead of selfishness or fear.
Imagine you had been in that crowd at the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus made this bold declaration, that you are the light of the world. Up until now, you had never really thought of yourself that way. A good part of the religious attitude of the day was that in order to be considered righteous, you had to obey all the religious laws.
Many of the religious leaders went to great detail to obey all these laws and some of them made a special effort to make sure other people noticed how pious they were being. How do we know that? Because Jesus rebuked this sort of thing.
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; Matthew 23:1-6 NIV
Jesus goes on in more detail, but you get the idea.
Jesus rebuked the darkness mindset
By the way, a phylactery was a small box with a Scripture inside, worn on the forehead as a symbol that the Word of God was close to you. Some of the Pharisees apparently thought the bigger their phylacteries were, the more obvious it would be they were more righteous and important.
Jesus rebuked this attitude. If you’re actually letting your light shine, being who God made you to be, people will notice, and you don’t need some outward symbol to convince anyone.
Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus had rebuked this same mindset of wanting other people to see how holy you are. This also from the Sermon on the Mount.
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Matthew 6:1 NIV
Then Jesus specifically mentions fasting, charitable giving, and prayer in this context.
When to be seen and when to be private
The ironic thing here is that these folks were doing everything to be seen by others. Jesus says they should fast, give, and pray in secret. But when he tells everyone to let their light shine, he says to do it so everyone see.
Here’s the full passage from Matthew which I quoted just the first sentence from earlier.
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16 NIV
There’s a lot going on here. Jesus is telling, first of all, that we are the light of the world but that we cannot hide the light God has created us to be. He tells us to be who God made us, to let our light shine, so others will see the results of how God is working in our lives. The glory goes to God, not to us.
The Pharisees wanted the glory for themselves.
God sees you
If you ever feel like you’re not getting the recognition you deserve and want others to notice how well you’re doing a project or completing a task, how well you dealt with a problem and solved it, or how patient you were when everyone else was losing their temper, it’s a good idea to remember Jesus’s words.
The good you do, the patience you show during a crisis, the way you solve problems with grace, these are your light. People will notice. At least some will. And God certainly sees all the good you do. He will recognize and reward you better than any person ever could.
Let’s come back to the moment in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus said, You are the light of the world.
Jesus sees everyone as the light
Jesus said this to everyone in the crowd. He saw everyone there in that light. He saw their goodness and their potential to bless.
Just think for a minute about all the different types of people in that crowd. They were not all pious saints. I imagine there were very spiritually minded folks listening but there were also, no doubt, some folks you would not classify as living a holy life.
Jesus called everyone there the light of the world, not just the holy ones. Let that sink in. He could see something most of us don’t.
You are the light–don’t cover it up
If you walk into your house late at night and there are no lights on, you would not walk over to the lamp, turn it on, then put a blanket over it. The light is designed to be seen and light up your surroundings so you can see what’s around you.
Jesus says no one would put their oil lamp under something to hide it. Instead, you put it somewhere visible to everyone. He makes the point that since we are the light of the world, we should not hide ourselves from the world.
Your light is not a personal possession just for your own benefit. It is meant to be shared with others. And you deserve to be blessed when others share their light with you.
Sharing your light with others
Why then, are we sometimes so hesitant to get our light out from under its hiding place? Why are we so reluctant to share our faith and all that God has done for us?
If you had a favorite brownie recipe all your friends loved, you would probably be delighted to share it with them. Why? Because you know they’d enjoy it. You have no doubt of how good those brownies are.
Why can’t we share our faith with such enthusiasm and confidence?
We often don’t share our faith because we’re not sure of the best way to do it. Maybe we feel our faith isn’t that strong and we don’t want to turn someone off because we might stumble over our words and say the wrong thing. And sometimes, we’re just downright afraid of rejection.
But what would you do when you shared your brownie recipe, if someone said, “I don’t like brownies.”? Would you be offended? Would you go home and shut yourself in your room and swear you’d never share that brownie recipe again?
You are the light of the world. Don’t be afraid to share it with others
Letting your light shine doesn’t mean going out on the street corner and trying to convert everyone that walks by. It’s about letting God’s love shine through every word and action. People do notice this.
Jesus said we should let our light shine in a way that others notice all the good we’re doing and glorify God as a result. If we are forcing our light shine in a way that brings all the glory to us, we’re not fulfilling Jesus’s command.
Don’t be afraid to let your light shine. It is a gift from God to you and to the world. Who are you not to share it?
Light points out the path
Have you ever landed in an airport at night? There are lights on the runway to guide the pilots exactly where to land the plane.
Have you ever thought of yourself as that kind of guiding light?
When you are following the path Jesus has marked out, you are the light to others along the way. You may never know how you have helped guide others to make the right decisions and stay on the right path.
On one of my first jobs after graduating from college, I was a shift supervisor. Before I had been there, the professional atmosphere was pretty sketchy. People did the work, but many of them didn’t really take it too seriously. Slowly, I worked to establish standards of behavior. Not everyone liked it.
Looking back, I might have been a little too strict at times, but overall I was trying to improve the way we interacted with each other as well as the public, which was a big part of the job, in a more professional way..
Letting my light shine
For two years I struggled to maintain and encourage others to maintain some higher performance standards. When I left that position for a job in another state, I wondered if I had made a difference at all. The guy who had been most opposed to me was promoted to my position not long after I left and I worried all my efforts had been for nothing.
A year later though, when I came back to my former workplace for a visit, I talked to a young man I didn’t know. He had been working on the team I had supervised, for just a few months. When I told him my name, he said with great emphasis, “Oh, I’ve heard all about you.”
I thought to myself: Oh no, here it comes. He’s going to tell me all the bad things he’s heard about me.
But on the contrary, he said he really admired the stand I had taken on many issues and that it had made a big difference on the team.
That was a big relief.
Looking back, I can see that I was being a light shining for others to see a better path to take. Not everyone wanted it at first, but it helped point things in the right direction for the future.
How can you be a light to others on the path of life to help direct their steps? And by the way, when you let your light shine, you see more clearly the right things to say and do.
Light can be a warning
Light can tell you where to go, but light can also tell you where not to go. The most simple example is the stop light with its green, yellow, and red, telling us when to go and when to stop.
Think of a buoy in a harbor with a flashing light telling ship captains that the water is too shallow for boats to pass. Or a lighthouse shining its warning beacon during a stormy night. There are tons of other examples you can come up with.
As you let your light shine, as you live God’s love in your daily life, you not only help others know where to go, but where not to go.
I know of several former drug addicts who are no longer doing drugs, but are helping people find healing from their addictions and discover their God-given freedom.
Maybe you have made some serious mistakes in your life, but have turned yourself around. You can be a spiritual light of warning, a voice of caution, to help others not make those same mistakes. And you can speak with authority from your own experiences . Letting your light shine will help guide others in the right direction.
Never underestimate the influence for good when you let your light shine.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world
We’ve been talking about this whole idea Jesus shares in the Sermon on the Mount, that you are the light of the world. But then, just before he heals a blind man, he declares,
I am the light of the world. John 9:5 NIV
How can we be the light of the world if Christ is? If we are all the light of the world, does that mean we are Jesus? Of course not.
The following analogy helps me sort through this question. Let’s say the sun represents God. All the light going out in every direction represents Christ. Christ is the light of the world. Every single ray of light, each going in a different direction, represents an individual child of God. Jesus said you are the light of the world.
It’s not a perfect analogy, but it shows that we have the same source as Jesus does. He made this clear when he was talking to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection, when he refers to God,
… my Father and your Father, … my God and your God. John 20:17 NIV
Our light has the same source as Jesus’s light.
Individually, you and I are not the whole light of the world, but we are each a ray of light, a ray of hope, a ray of Christly love shining out into God’s creation.
Paul’s analogy
Paul uses a different analogy to show our relation with Christ and each other.
All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT
Whether you think of yourself as individual ray of sunlight or a member, or part, of the body of Christ, it’s about your relation to the whole.
When Jesus proclaims he is the light of the world and that you are the light of the world, he affirms that what is true about him is true about us. He expects us to follow his example in teaching, preaching, and healing. In fact, without equivocation, he promises our light can and will shine just as his does.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12 ESV
You are the light of the world
Jesus knows you are the light, that we have the same divine source, God, that he does. He knows what we are capable of. He expects us to follow his example and let our light shine out into the whole world individually and collectively, to bring hope and healing.
If someone isn’t receptive to your light, don’t let that stop you. Perhaps the one who didn’t accept your light will accept the light of the next person coming down the path.
So come out from under that hiding place and shine your light into the world. You will be blessed by seeing more clearly as God’s creation. And don’t be surprised when your light blesses those you come in contact with.
Bible Verses
Matthew 5:14 NIV
14 You are the light of the world.
Matthew 23:1-6 NIV
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
Matthew 6:1 NIV
1 Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16 NIV
14 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
John 9:5 NIV
5 I am the light of the world.
John 20:17 NIV
17 … my Father and your Father, … my God and your God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT
27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
John 14:12 ESV
12 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
