Let your light shine
(Matthew 5:14-16) “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
(Ephesians 5:8) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.
We are taught to place our Chanukah Menorah in a window so everyone who goes by our house can see it. Light is not meant to be hidden; it is meant to be seen. Yeshua needs to be seen so people can receive the gift of eternal life and have their needs met for their spirit, soul and body. Yeshua lives in us so now it’s our job to let Him shine so people can see Him and get their needs met.
When we do good works and are used by God we are not to draw attention to ourselves. Yeshua the light is to shine in such a way that it’s evident or plain to see that we are not the Light, but Yeshua is. When it’s obvious that Yeshua is the Light, people will thank God and glorify Him.
This is one reason we light the Menorah. We should not spend too much time inside our homes or the Synagogue/Church. We need to get outside where there are people and let God’s Light shine so that others can see it. Today, this includes using the internet to shine God’s Light.
We are mirrors who reflect Yeshua
(2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT) So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into His glorious image.
(2 Corinthians 3:18 TLB) But we … have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord.
(2 Corinthians 3:18 MSG) Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of His face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him.
Since the Hebrew word Chanukah means dedication, we need to dedicate our temples (or bodies) to God every year during this feast. When we dedicate our temples to God, we remove things that function as a veil. Things that are like a cover or blanket and prevent people from seeing Yeshua. We need to remove any masks that hide Yeshua’s face from being seen.
We need to make sure there is nothing between us and God so we can be a mirror which reflects and shines the glory of God or the brightness of Yeshua’s face.
Judas Maccabee told us to celebrate the rededication of God’s temple every year, over and over again. We too must rededicate our temples to God over and over again. The truth is we’re all works in progress. We will spend our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as we allow God to enter our temples and make us more like Him.
Take time to celebrate Chanukah and rededicate your temple to God. Clean your temple so Yeshua the Light will shine more than ever before, and people will glorify your Father in heaven.
