Isaiah 49:6

Isaiah 49:6 says, “He says, It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

In Sunday school this past week I taught on being salt and light. I was reading a blog this morning and I came across this verse in Isaiah and since it deals with light, it said stop and think about me.

A light. What is a light? There are lighthouses, night lights, the sun, stars, moon, lamps, flashlights.... all of them lead the way. On Sunday we looked at Matthew 5:14-16 which talks about believers being lights and here again in Isaiah, we are told we will be lights. A light to lead the way to salvation for the nations. Without our lights, who will be lead to salvation? Do we do anyone any good by hiding our lights or just serving God quietly? Apparently not. Apparently it's not just enough to "do good" but we must also make it apparent that we are Christians.

It's too small of a thing to just be servants. We are always told to serve God, but this verse makes it sound like just serving isn't enough, we must also shine our faith bright enough so that others can be lead to salvation. Not to hide our lights, but to make sure everyone knows why we're doing what we're doing.

I don't think this means we need to stand on a street corner and shout out dooms day warnings. I think this means that when we're asked what we're doing, we need to tell people the reason. If we're standing up for the meek and someone asks us why we bother, we need to say its because of our faith in Christ we are defending the meek. It's not enough to say just because. We need to proclaim the reason for our good deeds. I think that will help others to understand that we're not just "good people" but we are people of faith, people that have a reason for doing what we're doing. Anyone can do good, but we shouldn't let our good deeds and service be confused with altruistic individuals. We need to let others know, at appropriate times, that our desires stem from God's word and not from our own hearts.