“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matt. 5:17 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. he who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Matt. 13:43(NKJV)
“Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Phil. 2:14-15(NKJV)
“They shall be mine, says the Lord of Hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” Mal. 3:17(NKJV)
The Scriptures make it plain that we are the light of the world because we belong to Jesus and He is the ultimate light of the world. All that we do is supposed to glorify God. People are to watch us and then glorify God for what they see. How do we “shine” when we are only human? Our light is the reflected light of Jesus in us. We shine only as bright as we reflect Him in our lives.
God calls us His jewels and that puts us in a special place with Him. Let’s consider a diamond for our example. A diamond is a piece of coal put under pressure and heat for a long time. When the work is done the coal becomes a diamond and shines brightly when it reflects sunlight. We were a piece of carbon (coal) but the power and fire of God changed us into a jewel when we accepted Christ. We can then reflect “Son-light”.
All diamonds are made up of the same thing but not all diamonds shine the same. The better the inside of the diamond the more it reflects the light. Put a diamond in the mud and it remains a diamond. But it will not reflect light when it is covered in mud. Just because it is in the mud doesn’t turn it back into a piece of coal. It is still a diamond and if you clean it up it will still shine. It is the nature of a diamond to shine. No matter how much light you shine on a black piece of coal it will never reflect it. But, as a diamond, it will.
We have been changed from darkness to light, from death to life, from lost to saved. All of this because God took a piece of carbon, applied His power, and made it a diamond. That is a “new creation”. Now, shine like you were made to shine! Remember, you are still a diamond even if you are covered with mud.