Verse of the Day for May 2

There is an odd turn in the middle of verse sixteen. People are meant to see your good works, and yet they are meant to praise someone else for them.

That is the strange shape of the purpose Jesus describes. You do the work in plain sight, and the credit travels straight past you to your Father which is in heaven. A lamp is only noticed because of what it lets you see.

Notice too how small the room is. The candle on its stand lights all that are in the house. Not the city, not the nation. The house. Purpose usually begins within arm's reach.

Then Jesus adds, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. He was not starting something unrelated to what God had already been doing. He was finishing it. Your next step is rarely a clean break from everything before it. It is usually the next faithful piece of the same story.

Perhaps it is fixing your neighbour's broken gate, or helping a younger colleague with a report and not mentioning it in the meeting. Small, visible, and not about you.

Do the good thing in front of you, and let the thanks go upward.

The house you are in today is a large enough place to shine.