Scripture Sunday: Matthew 5:14

Every Sunday on this site I will take some time to look at a passage from the Bible that I like and think is great... though they could obviously be presented by themselves without further mention, I will throw my two cents in on what the verse(s) mean to me.

Today we look at something that comes right after the Beatitudes in Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus is still preaching to the people.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14)

I see this verse as a great inspiration to live out our faith at all times, and to have the light of Christ shine in us and through us at all times.

This verse says that we must use our talents and help and serve others. For many people, they see faith as a private thing, and don't like to discuss it all with anybody else. But Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world, and that we cannot be hidden. In short, if we believe that the Gospel is true (and if you don't, then you shouldn't be Christian), then we cannot keep that to ourselves. We should want to share it with others.

Of course, this doesn't mean that we need to shove religion in other people's face. Our goal is to share our faith and the joy we receive from it, and that in-your-face style is not a very effective method of doing that. But we must show our faith through our actions, and we must be open to talking about it if the situation arises.

We are the light of the world. Just as a city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, we cannot hide that light within ourselves from others.