by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Giving Glory to Our Heavenly Father

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16 English Standard Version

I couldn’t help but take a picture of this glove on one of my recent hikes. My guess is that someone found it and hung it next to the trail so that the person who lost it would find it.

Jesus calls us to go out on a limb in the Sermon on the Mount. He encourages us to let our light shine (I know, mixing my metaphors) that other people would see our good works. The twist in Jesus’ teaching comes in the last part of the verse, “and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

The glory doesn’t belong to us. Ugh! That goes against our humanness. Yes, we want to shine, but so that people see how good we are.

We want to be the best parent. Why? So that other people might be amazed at our parenting.

We want to be the best employee. Why? So that other people might be amazed at our work ethic.

We want to be the best neighbor. Why? So that people might be amazed at our ability to be there for others.

It’s hard for us to hear Jesus say that it’s not about us but about his heavenly Father. Besides, what makes our works good in the first place? Isn’t it the same thing that declares us good? Isn’t it the blood of Jesus that makes our works good? There is nothing in the works themselves that makes them better than other works. God declares even the smallest work good because of Jesus.

So, yes, we are called today to go out on a limb, a limb that declares the goodness of God working through us so that he might receive the praise when people see and experience our good works.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado