Dear Christian friends:

Jesus often compared a Christian with various natural things or professions. Jesus compared a Christian with the following: "You are are the salt of the earth..." (Matthew 5:13), "You are the light of the world..." (Matthew 5:14) "I am the vine, you are the branches.." (John 15:5) "My sheep listen to my voice..." (John 10:27) "Every good tree bears good fruit..." (Matthew 7:17) "I am the good shepherd.." (John 10:11) "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

Why did Jesus do this? Jesus' use of comparisons helped to make His teachings more relatable to people.

We who believe in Jesus are the Light. The Holy Spirit has given us the true light. Jesus is the true light. He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12) Therefore the light is the Good News about Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of the world.

What is the darkness? Darkness is ignorance about the true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Those people who do not believe in Jesus are in darkness and spiritual death. They are enemies of God. Satan rules them; leads them to do bad things.

Through baptism the Holy Spirit gives a person faith in Jesus, and through the Word and the Sacrament the Holy Spirit helps us continue believing in Jesus, so we can believe in Him and have the true light, life and joy, and follow Jesus.

Have you received baptism? Yes! Then, the Holy Spirit has given you faith in Jesus and you have the true light. You are blessed.

You are not in darkness. You are not spiritually dead. You have light and eternal life. These are from God and His kind and mercy gifts to you. Before you were in darkness and spiritual death, but God had mercy on you and gave you light and faith through baptism and has kept you in light and spiritual life through His Word and Sacrament. Thank God, praise God!

Now we have light, God's light, God wants us to do something now that we are light. What? He wants us to let out light shine to the people still in darkness and spiritual death. "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

We let our light shine, how? We do that when we obey the Ten Commandments. The first three commandments command us to love God with all our heart, mind and spirit. The last seven Commandments command us to love our neighbor as we love ourself.

When we fail to let our light shine, we should repent and ask God to forgive us in Jesus' name. If we have sinned against someone and hurt him or insulted him we should ask that person to forgive us.

We also let our light shine when we tell sinners, bad people to obey the Ten Commandments and to stop breaking them. If they agree and are ashamed and sorry we should tell them that God forgives their sins because of Jesus.

When we obey the Ten Commandments ourselves and urge those people still in darkness to come see the light, we are letting our light shine before men. This pleases God and gives all praise and glory to God. (sign verse 16 again!)

If we fail to let our light shine before men in darkness, we displease God and people continue to mock God and stay in darkness and spiritual death. We don't want that to happen! Let us therefore pray to God to help us shine!

O God, our Father, help us to honor your name by letting our light shine!

Amen.