This WMD was written by Shaun Watkins.

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. — Matthew 5:16

A year ago (May 2020) I was called by a friend of a friend to come and help move some things from a house that friend had inherited after the death of his uncle. While there I notice a nice car in the garage. I ask how much he wanted for the car and he gave me a price. It was more than I wanted to pay mainly because I didn’t need the car. Also, the car hadn’t run in a while so we didn’t know what was wrong with it.

After walking around the house and seeing all that needed to be done so the friend could sell the house, I made an offer on the car. I said, “I will help you paint the interior of the house for the car.” The friend actually agreed. About a week later I got a call that all the material was there to paint the house. Backfire! Look, I only wanted to help paint the house so that I could hang out with the friend’s friend and get to know him. I wanted to build a relationship with him. 

Well, I got my brothers to help, and we painted the house over a couple of weeks. We only saw the friend’s friend a couple of times when we were there painting. 

We finished up the painting and got the car. I had the car towed to my house, because remember, it didn’t run. So, for the past year the car has sat in the same spot in my yard. I was able to get it to run once and then it sat for a while and the next time I tried to start it, it would not start. So, the car just sat. 

A week ago, I decided that I didn’t want the car to just sit in my yard, so I decided to scrap it. One of my brothers said, “let try and sell it,” which we did the next day. After the car was gone the only thing that was left was a dead rectangle in my grass where the car had sat for the past year. 

One week after the car left, I was cutting grass and I saw one of the most beautiful things. Right in the middle of the dead rectangle, there was new, beautiful, green grass growing. It was almost like an audible voice from the Lord saying, “You see, darkness kills everything! In darkness there is no life, but when the Light shines upon the dead, it doesn’t matter how long it was dead because I can restore it.” It was the greatest thing. What a perfect illustration!

Why do I share this? Because you may never know what a difference you make in others. You may never know how a simple smile, or good morning, or a “hey how are you?” could help someone. Or maybe you feel dead and need to be restored. Our brokenness is where the light shines in. We need the light of Jesus to shine on us because He is the only thing that can bring life from death and darkness.

Also remember as believers we are the hands and feet of Jesus! It is His light that people see in us. Not a little light, but a light that is like a city on a hill. It was never meant to be hidden. The true light of God was meant to be seen for afar.

What do people see when they see you? Light? Darkness? Both? 

Father I pray that today we are the light like a city on a hill. A light that others can see. I pray that we stop hiding our light. That we are the light in this dark world. Father if we are living in darkness that we get out of the shadow and into the light so that we can be restored by You. That you bring us into new life. We need Christians that are on fire. Not Christians that just let their little lights shine. Nothing is worse than a lukewarm Christian, that is dangerous. God let us be Believers that people see You in us! Not that we get any glory for it, but all for Your glory!

In Jesus Name!

Amen