Today’s Scripture: Matthew 5:16
“Let your light shine before others.”
In a series of moral exhortations in Titus 2:1?:2 we find three instances where Paul emphasized the importance of our Christian testimony before unbelievers. In verse 5, he said, “that the word of God may not be reviled.” In verse 8: “so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” And in verse 10: “so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our savior.”
Paul was obviously concerned about the witness by life of the believers. In Romans he said to the Jews, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (2:24, NIV), and he must have had a similar concern about the Cretan Christians to whom Titus ministered.
What would Paul say about us today? As the unbelieving world becomes increasingly hostile to true Christianity, it will be even more eager to find inconsistencies in our lives so it can ridicule God and his Word.
More than four hundred years ago, the great reformer John Calvin voiced a similar concern: “everything bad [the ungodly] can seize hold of in our life is twisted maliciously against Christ and his teaching. The result is that by our fault God’s sacred name is exposed to insult. The more closely we see ourselves being watched by our enemies, the more intent we should be to avoid their slanders, so that their ill-will strengthens us in the desire to do well.”
As believers we should seek to be exemplary in every aspect of our lives, doing our best for the sake of Christ and his Gospel. Our work, play, driving, and shopping should all be done with a view that unbelievers will be attracted to the Gospel that they see at work in our lives. (Excerpt taken from The Discipline of Grace)
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