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Matthew 5-6


How would you like to have this epitaph on your tombstone?  “And they glorified God because of me.”  The Apostle Paul said this of himself in Galatians 1:24.  He wasn’t boasting.  He was summarizing the feelings of many who saw how much his life had changed when he met the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.



The Apostle Peter said much the same thing in 1 Peter 2:12: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.



More importantly, Jesus also commanded us to glorify God in the way we live our lives.  We saw it in our reading today.  Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”



Good works are important, not to save us and not to bring praise to ourselves, but to bring glory to God.   



The reverse is also true.  Joe Stowell writes a compelling story that I’ve abridged about a tailgating woman who screeched on the brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of her as the traffic light turned red.  She blew her horn furiously at the law abiding driver in that car, screamed,  made obscene gestures, and then was shocked when she was taken to the police station, searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.  Why that serious a reaction?  The police officer later explained.  He said he witnessed the lady’s bad behavior and noticed the “What Would Jesus Do” bumper sticker, the “Choose Life” license plate holder, the “Follow Me to Sunday School” bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally he assumed she had stolen the car.



She wasn’t letting her light shine.  No glory was coming to God.



I’ve had people tell me about just finding out that someone they worked with for 5, 10, or 15 years was a believer in Christ.  “Isn’t that great, they asked.  “Now I have a brother with whom I can share spiritually.  I would always say, “No, that isn’t great, it’s terrible.  You should have known that this person was a Christ follower immediately.”   Let me encourage each of us to identify ourself as a Christian as soon as possible so the glory for good works goes to God.  Our co-workers, fellow students, neighbors, teammates, and other associates should know that we follow Jesus, and anything that shines brightly in us is a reflection of Him.
~Paul Thompson

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