I like to pick my children’s brains on the Bible sometimes.  I really find this very exciting.  I’d simply throw a scripture they should be familiar with at them requesting their interpretation of it.  For example; ‘Where is the secret place of The Most High’? ‘What do you understand by The Lord is my Shepherd’?  Believe me when I tell you these children come up with brilliant interpretations, sometimes they drop new revelation to run with for many days 🙂

On this beautiful morning, with their boxes packed ready to return to school, I needed to remind them of who they are in Christ Jesus.  Matthew 5:14-16 has been ringing in my head for about 3 weeks now, and who better to study it with than my lovely trio?

“You are the light that shines for the world to see. You are like a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. People don’t hide a lamp under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand. Then the light shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.                    -Easy-to- Read Bible Version.

You know how we read this scripture and then suddenly burst into the timeless ‘little light‘ song {this little light of mine, I am gonna light it shine…}. Oh dear! Do I love that song? Yes! I also have a lovely and most cherished personal quote on being Light (deduced from John 1:5) – ” I am light. Darkness has no place where light is“.    🙂

But Matthew 5:14-16 isn’t talking about a ‘little‘ light or darkness. Nope.  And I am glad my kids didn’t sing me the ‘little light‘ song. Instead, as always they provided beautiful and astounding explanations of the scripture they were presented with. Like this one; ‘Mummy it means to live in a way that nobody can prove that you are not a Christian’ WOW!!!  Even I did a step-back, sit-down and some thinking to fully grasp the revelation in that response.  🙂

Light is simply defined on Google as ‘the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible‘. Light illuminates, light accentuates radiance, brilliance, glow and gives a glaring dazzle. Light shows direction in darkness.

Jesus is saying in Matthew 5: 14-16 that we should be a direction for other people. We should show the way to live and act. We should live worthy of our calling as children of God. 

Not too long ago I was member of a team assigned the task of making a purchase for an organization. Having made the first contact and subsequently introduced the merchant to the team, many questions were directed at me for clarification. One of such questions was; ‘ who’d get the discount the merchant was offering, me or the organization’?

We know it is common practice in many business settings for a link person to request variations that accrue to his/her account. Sadly, even members of the body of Christ partake freely in this practice. They see nothing wrong with presenting a receipt for a purchase that they’ve privately secured a personal kickback on.  I still struggle with these things. So my response to this particular question of; ‘sorry I don’t handle such details’, I know, would likely mean my exclusion from such negotiations in the future, but it did guide the team, because following my response, the question was withdrawn. {glad that some decency was displayed}.

Why have I shared this story? Because Matthew 5:14-16 came to me in the midst of it all.

Now, here’s the interesting part for me. A few days after the team meeting, a strange face with a familiar name popped up around my Facebook account. {Now you know I see you if you’ve been sneaking around my Facebook account 🙂 don’t ask me how}.   On a closer look, I was able to relate the face to the lead person at the merchant’s store who I’d met during my initial visit to the store on market survey.  What was she doing around my Facebook  account? Surfing! Who’s this Grace Obomanu? Didn’t this name sound familiar? Is she not the same person that blogs on the Bible?  Or maybe, she was just checking me out and can you imagine her reaction finding out that I actually openly profess to be a Christian?  You know how bad news about Christianity spread like wildfire? ……I am glad I didn’t sell out my birthright in this situation.

Like my little ones said, we should live such that no one can prove that we are not Christians. Let’s stay set like the lamp on a lampstand, like a city set on a hill. Let’s light our world.