BE
RADIANT
BREAD
14 “You are the light of the world. A city 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 men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your
Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
(NIV)
33 “No
one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a
bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the
light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of
your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But
when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not
darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole
body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted,
as when the light of a lamp shines on you.” Luke 11:33-36 (NIV)
12 When Jesus
spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of
the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the
light of life.” John 8:12 (NIV)
19 “This is the verdict: Light has come
into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds
were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the
light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be
exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that
it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:19-21 (NIV)
28 Moses was there with the LORD
forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he
wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant--the Ten Commandments. 29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with
the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face
was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.
Exodus
34:28-29 (NIV)
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with
hailstones and bolts of lightning. 13 The
LORD thundered from heaven; the
voice of the Most High resounded.
Psalm 18:12-13 (NIV)
31 So whether you eat
or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1
Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
11 For the
grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to
ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and
godly lives in this present age, 13 while
we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and
Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who
gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself
a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Titus
2:11-14 (NIV)
14 Do everything
without complaining or arguing, 15 so
that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a
crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life--in order
that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a
drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad
and rejoice with all of you. 18 So
you too should be glad and rejoice with me. Philippians 2:14-18 (NIV)
23 Whatever you do,
work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an
inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians
3:23-24 (NIV)
17 Now
the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect
the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2
Corinthians 3:17-18 (NIV)
BUTTER
“As a general principle, if we would
exercise our memories more wisely, we might, in our very darkest distress,
strike a match that would instantaneously kindle the lamp of comfort. There is no need for God to create a new
thing upon the earth in order to restore believers’ joy; if they would
prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for the present;
and if they would turn to the book of truth and the throne of grace, their
candle would soon shine as before. Let
us then remember the loving-kindness of the Lord and rehearse His deeds of
grace. Let us open the volume of
recollection, which so richly illuminated with memories of His mercy, and we
will soon be happy. When the Divine
Comforter bends memory to His service, it is then the greatest earthly comfort
we can know.” C. H. Spurgeon
“God
has called us to shine.” Dwight L.
Moody
“Men
come and go; leaders, teachers, thinkers speak and work for a season, and then
fall silent and impotent. He
abides. They die, but He lives. They are lights kindled, and, therefore,
sooner or later quenched; but He is the true light from which they draw all
their brightness, and He shines forevermore.”
Alexander Maclaren
“The saints are God's holy people. The
apostle Paul speaks about all those who belong to Christ as ‘holy people’ or ‘saints.’
He directs his letters to ‘those who have been consecrated in Christ Jesus and
called to be God's holy people’ (1 Corinthians 1:2; see also Ephesians 1:1).
This sanctity is the work of the Spirit of Jesus. Paul again says: ‘All of us,
with our unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter
glory; this is the working of the Lord who is the Spirit’ (2 Corinthians 3:18). As saints we belong to that huge network of
God's people that shines like a multitude of stars in the dark sky of the
universe.” Henri Nouwen
“The oil of the lamp in the temple
burned away in giving light; so should we.” Robert
Murray M’Cheyne
“The hero is one
who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark
streets of life for men to see by.” Felix Adler
“The true
Christian cannot be hid, he cannot escape notice. A man truly living and functioning as a
Christian will stand out. He will be
like salt; he will be like a city set on a hill, a candle set upon a
candlestick. But we can also add this further word. The true Christian does not
even desire to hide his light. He sees
how ridiculous it is to claim to be a Christian and yet deliberately to try to
hide the fact. A
man who truly realizes what it means to be a Christian, who realizes all that
the grace of God has meant to him and done for him, and understands that,
ultimately, God has done this in order that he may influence others, is a man
who cannot conceal it. Not only that; he
does not desire to conceal it, because he argues thus, ‘Ultimately the object
and purpose of it all is that I might be functioning in this way’.” Martin Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount.
“God alone can bless His people, keep them, look on them with favor (make His face shine and turn His face toward them), be gracious to them, and give them peace.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary
“It is too bad that many believers minimize the place
of good works in the Christian life. Matthew
5:16 ‘Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in Heaven’.
We do not perform good works to
get any glory for ourselves, but we do them to glorify His blood given on our
behalf. Hebrews 13:16 indicates that our
good works are actually ‘spiritual sacrifices’ that we offer to God.” Wales
Goebel
“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my
weary soul in Thee. I give Thee back the
life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer fuller be. O light that followest all my way, I yield my
flickering torch to Thee. My heart
restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter
fairer be. O joy that seekest me through
pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee. I
trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn
shall tearless be. O cross that liftest
up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee.
I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red,
life that shall endless be.” George Matheson
“A holy life will
produce the deepest impression.
Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine.” D.L.
Moody
“Our Light shines forth
in order to point others to Christ – the Source of our Light – and never to
self – most often the source of our darkness.”
BHY
“Darkness is my
point of view, my right to myself; light is God’s point of view.” Oswald
Chambers
“Almighty
God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us
the armor of light.” Book
of Common Prayer
HEART SAVOR
· Christians are to
be the lights of the world, cities on a hill that cannot be hidden, demonstrating God’s marvelous ways through
His power, for His glory to those who live in darkness. Be careful not to let your light go out.
- · The believer’s actions are to demonstrate the light within us. We are merely vessels of clay which carry within us this great treasure: 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NIV)
- · Believers are to reflect God’s glory.
