How to Shine

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it tinder a bushel.... Let your light so shine before me?i that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” — Matt. v. 14-16.

Our Lord is here teaching His disciples how to shine. He tells them to avoid two extremes — to beware on the one hand of affectation, and on the other hand of want of manifestation. He says, in speaking of the first extreme, that they need not be anxious to display their light, “A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” He tells them that there is a power within them which they could not possibly conceal even if they were willing, which would radiate from them in spite of themselves, and reveal to the world the presence of something new. But, on the other hand, He says that if they are to avoid the extreme of a false display, they must equally avoid that of a false reticence. They are not to light a candle and put it under a bushel; they ought to place themselves in a situation advantageous for being seen, advantageous for influencing the mind of the world. How are these precepts of the Master to be reconciled How are we to shine at once consciously and unconsciously — conscious of our power, and yet unconscious of our greatness? Our Lord tells us how. He says, “If you would shine effectively, if you would shine in such a way as to influence the minds of men, the motive of your shining must be a glory not your own.” So shine that you may glorify another — “That men may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Let yours be the power of love, which is the power of dying, nay, of being already dead in the life of another. Forget your own glory in the glory of the Father, lose your own interest in the interest of the Father, merge your own will in the will of the Father. Let your brightest joy be to gladden Him, let your deepest grief be to pain Him, let your utmost effort be to serve Him.

Identify your pleasure with His profit, measure your loss by what men refuse to yield Him. And verily in that hour you shall shine — shine as the stars in the kingdom of your Father. The light on which you gaze shall pass through you, the love which is death shall be your rising, the forgetfulness which has buried self shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre. Your true self shall live when your selfishness is dead, your personal being shall be powerful when you have forgot to seek for a personal joy. You shall shine as the planets of the night fed by the light of the reposing day, shine as the flowers of the field lit by the torch of morning. Men shall wonder at your power; you shall wonder most of all at your own power, for yours shall be the power that comes from humility, the power of souls that are crucified by love.