Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."
When I read this, I was reminded of another teaching of Jesus:
Matthew 6:1 "Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven."
On the surface, these verses seem to contradict each other. Which is why I stopped to think on it further.
What's the difference between "letting your good deeds be seen" and "doing your good deeds publicly"? It's the difference between shining and showing off. Whose favor are you hoping to gain? Are you doing it for God's glory or your own? Will you receive all the reward right away, or is the majority of it being stored up in the Kingdom?
I considered the contexts as well. In chapter 5, Jesus just finished saying that you will be blessed for being persecuted because of him (5:10-11). Letting your light shine ties in with that: don't let fear of pain or insult hold you back.
Whereas chapter 6 is right in the thick of outlining how our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (5:20), who were known and praised by all for their "good deeds".
Basically, to me it seems like these verses are saying "don't be ashamed of who you are as a child of God, but don't try to prove/earn your righteousness by your own power"
I personally struggle with both of these. On the one hand, when people notice something about me that's different, I tend to shrug the comment off with some logical explanation instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to explain why I'm different. On the other hand, it's easy for me to fall into flaunting my "righteousness" and thinking too highly of myself. Especially around Christians.
I grew up being more "mature"--in my mind--than everyone else my age. It turned into an internal competition to be better than the Christians around me. I held myself to a higher standard, which resulted in me looking down on everyone else. I was quite the little Pharisee. Those of you who have known me our whole lives probably noticed that, and you deserve an apology for my attitude whether you noticed or not.
Fortunately, no matter my flaws God is still willing to work with my heart and my attitude. He put me in a position where I was purposefully admiring the people around me, in order to encourage them and build them up whenever I could. My admiration for others eventually wore down my admiration for myself. After all, it's quite humbling to be genuinely admiring children. And over the years, he's also made me a kind of unofficial leader, which strangely made me more humble. The pressure to live well stopped coming from competing with those around me, and started coming from a desire to set a good example, which somehow seemed harder.
I'm grateful for everything God has helped me with when it comes to doing good deeds in order to be admired by others. Though I still have a long way to go when it comes to letting my light shine, especially at work. But, when I think about it, maybe it's not as much up to me as I think. If I truly am a lamp, then God is the one who lit me and put me on a stand. A lamp doesn't have to TRY to stay lit, concentrating on pushing its light to the corners and displacing the darkness. It's the nature of darkness to disappear in the presence of light. And it's the nature of a lamp, when it's a good one, to shine. It's what it was created for.
So maybe for me it's not about how hard I try, but about being who God created me to be. I still have a fear of speaking to people to overcome, but if God could humble this Pharisee, I'll bet he can light this lamp too.
