Devotion for Friday, March 13, The Second Week of Lent
Matthew 5:13-20 | Let your light so shine before men.
These words speak of a light that issues from us, through what we do, but whose source is God.
There is a dynamic here that is typical of the gospel and sheds light on how humans work. Light comes from a source. I cannot generate it myself, though I can refract it and reflect it. I need to be lit. When I am lit, so to speak, I shine just as the moon shines at night, lit by the sun.
A person who has been “lit” can be seen. A woman or man in love cannot hide the flame. A person who has just received a great “stroke” of affirmation shows it, tells it. In The Book of Mormon, having seen a vision of the Kingdom of God, the character Nabulundi must yell out, “You were right, mama.
You didn’t lie.
The place is real.
And I’m gonna fly!”
Light shows, in your whole being and in all your actions. Your deeds bear its stamp. Being lit by love is reflected in loving. And the person who beholds this asks, “Where does the light come from?”
Trace, then, the light that is seen in good deeds, in unselfishness and acts of service, in dedication and untiring compassion, to its source. Jesus says that God is the source of that light.
Give thanks today for a selfless moment you observed in another’s life (or even your own), especially from a person who is not usually like that; and thank its author, God.
PRAYER
Thank you when I can give you all the Glory,
thank you when I see your light.