Devo for 5/17/2026 - Message by Pastor Clint

Pastor Clint continued the sermon series, “Sharing Jesus”, this past weekend.  His main verse was out of Matthew and focused on how salt and light are used to describe how we should live our lives.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16

Pastor Clint talked about how salt changes what it touches, and we should have a similar effect in our world.  We should be “salty!”  This verse also challenges us to be “lights of the world.”  

As we look at verse 16 above, it calls us to “let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works, and glorify God.”  It is easy to think this passage is saying we should do lots of “religious” stuff so God will be glorified.  This is what the Pharisees did: they loudly prayed and were very animated in an attempt to show how “godly” they were.  They wanted everyone to look at them and how “spiritual” they were. This verse, however, is exactly the opposite of that.

To let our light shine before men is simply saying this: make it apparent in all you do that God is everything in your life, and all of our works are born out of our desire to glorify Him.  In other words, our actions are meant to minimize us and magnify God.  This is spoken clearly in the book of 1 Peter:

Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then, even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. 1 Peter 2:12

So, through our works, we can point others to God by our example and actions.  We don’t have to “act” religious and float around on clouds.  We just have to put God at the center of all we do and live our lives for Him rather than ourselves.   As Pastor Clint said, “The Gospel sounds different when they can see it.” Our actions will reveal Jesus to others much more effectively than our words.

So, do people see God in how you live and work?  Might be worth pondering that, and maybe even ask God his opinion!

Don’t forget to invite God into your day!

Topic for Study

• Inerrancy of Scripture

  • Psalm 119:160

  • Proverbs 30:5-6

  • John10:35

May Memory Verse: 

Psalm 103:3

“He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.”