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TO BE, OR NOT BE SEEN!
Did Jesus contradict himself in the sermon on the mount? He said, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid ... Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven" (Matt. 5:14, 16). But later he said, "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven" (6:1-f). "To be seen of men" indicates a self-glorifying motive; doing things with no desire to serve God or other men. This is labeled exactly what it is; i.e. hypocrisy. By such we deceive ourselves most often; perhaps a few otherse, but we never fool God. Hypocrisy is not true light in the first place. It has no heavenly reward; only praise of deceived men. Regarding the first verse, true light will shine - that is its nature. If we will concentrate on being lights rather than on being seen, the light will make known its presence. It will not be hidden unless we follow a policy of obscuration. But why would any one want to hide his light? A few years back it may have been fear of being called a "square." Now it may be a desire to be thought "free" or "uninhibited." But light-hiding usually means we are ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and fear the unpleasant consequences that may come to those who defend and live its principles. Cowards can find no plausible excuses for using the "bushel." They "show a brotherly defence" to prejudice - a condescending attitutde, less than honest. They wish to "gradually accustom" men to their new idea. They are lovers of "peace" (where there is no peace). I remember one fellow saying that John lost his head because he lost his head - he failed to use tact and diplomacy. But John's light shone, and continues to shine on us. "Let your light shine" means we must live for Christ in open, unashamed fashion. We must "reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." We must be primarily interested in pleasing the Lord, not in what me see or think of us, - Robert Turner, Plain Talk, April, 1976 AND ANOTHER THING ...
(Reflections on "Middle Age") I must confess that this is a reprint of an article I wrote when I was a mere child of 51. But I herewith reprint it for your perusal. Middle age - that time of life that is either a blessing or a curse - depends on how you look at it. Someone told me that "life begins at forty." Instead, I have decided that it is really the time of life when everything either starts to wear out, fall out or spread out! When I was a lad, my hair was light; then it turned dark, then it turned partly gray, and now it has turned loose! But the blessings of middle age are what I like to call the "closer feeling." Married folks who truly love each other are drawn closer to one another. A man's faith grows and he then feels closer drawn to God. And with every passing day, he comes to feel even closer to heaven. Sure, you wonder about some of the decisions you made in life. It is the time of life when you hope you have "train(ed) up your child..." in the way that you now know you should have been going all the time (Moseley version). But all in all, its a time that, knowing that you've done the best you can and knew how to do, and have done what God expects of you, you are not willing to trade for all the younger years. May God help those of us who are here to appreciate those years, and not regret them. You can't turn back the clock if you wanted to - so don't even try. - Bill Moseley |
