Adaobi had printed the flyers herself. They were bright yellow, with a torch blazing across the top and the words Light of the Nations: Three Nights of Power in thick red letters. Her church in Port Harcourt was holding its annual crusade, and she had been given forty flyers to distribute. By Wednesday she had given away thirty-eight.
The thirty-ninth was for Hussaina.
They worked in the same accounts department of a shipping agency, and they had sat at neighbouring desks for almost two years. Hussaina had grown up in a church in Kaduna and had drifted away from it after university. She still said “God bless you” when someone sneezed, and once, when her father was ill, she had asked Adaobi to pray. Adaobi had been praying for her ever since, and she had decided that this crusade would be the moment.
She put the flyer on Hussaina’s desk at lunchtime with a big smile. “Friday night,” she said. “Just come once. Our pastor is anointed. God will meet you there.”
Hussaina looked at the flyer for a long moment. Then she looked at Adaobi, and her face was kind but serious.
Punchline“Ada, can I tell you something? Because you are my friend.”
Adaobi nodded, still smiling.
“Last month you told the manager you had malaria, and you were at your cousin’s wedding in Owerri. I saw the pictures on your status. When the new girl made a mistake on the Onne account, you told half the office before you told her. You shout at Mama, the cleaner, when the tea is late. And every morning you post three Bible verses.” She paused. “I am not trying to hurt you. I just don’t know which one is the real Jesus. The one on your status, or the one at your desk.”
She pushed the flyer gently back across the desk. Adaobi went to the toilet, locked the door and stood there for ten minutes with the yellow paper crumpled in her hand.
You are the light of the world
Jesus began His Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, describing the kind of people who belong to the kingdom: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted. And then He told those people what they were in the world:
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Salt and light. In the ancient world, salt preserved food from decay and gave flavour to what was bland. A little of it affected a great deal. Jesus says His disciples are like that in the world. Their presence should slow the rot and add something good.
Then He warns that salt can lose its savour. The salt of Palestine was often gathered from the shores of the Dead Sea and was mixed with other minerals. If the actual salt leached out through damp, what remained looked like salt but did nothing. It was thrown on the path and trampled. A disciple whose life has lost its distinctiveness can look like a Christian and have no effect at all.
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Light is meant to be seen. Nobody lights a lamp and then covers it with a basket. The lamp goes on a stand “and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”
And then the instruction: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” This is remarkable. Jesus gives our visible conduct a place in the Father’s honour. People will look at how we live, and some of them will come to praise God because of it. The good works are seen by men. The glory goes to the Father.
That is the whole point of the light. Light does not shine to draw attention to itself. You do not look at a lamp; you look at what the lamp lets you see. When believers live well, the world should see something of the character of God, and give Him the credit.
What you already are
Notice the grammar of Jesus’ words. He does not say “Try to become salt” or “Work hard to be light.” He says, “Ye are.” It is a statement of identity before it is an instruction about activity.
This matters, because otherwise the command to shine can become a crushing burden, a performance we must keep up to impress outsiders. The source of the light is Jesus Himself. “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). We shine because He has shone on us and lives in us. Paul says, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). The order is clear. Now are ye light. Therefore walk as children of light.
Good behaviour does not turn us into light. In Christ, we are already light. What remains to be settled is whether that light will be seen, or whether we will hide it under a bushel of inconsistency, compromise or careless living.
There is a tension here that Jesus Himself addresses. In the next chapter He says, “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them” (Matthew 6:1). How can we let our light shine before men and also avoid doing good to be seen? The answer lies in motive and in the direction of glory. In Matthew 5, the goal is that people “glorify your Father.” In Matthew 6, the warning is against those who want glory for themselves. A believer who does good to build a reputation is putting the light on a stand so that people will admire the lamp. A believer who simply lives faithfully, and lets others see it, points them to the Father.
The ordinary places where light is seen
What are the “good works” that Jesus says people will see? It is easy to think only of dramatic acts: a miracle, a big donation, a public stand. But most of what people see of us is ordinary. How we behave at work. How we drive. How we speak to the people who serve us. Whether we pay our debts. Whether we keep our word.
Joseph is a striking example. He was a slave in a foreign land, in the house of an Egyptian official, with no rights and no reputation. Yet something about him became visible:
And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
“His master saw that the LORD was with him.” Potiphar was an Egyptian and did not worship the God of Israel. He could not see God directly. What he could see was Joseph: the way he worked, the way he handled responsibility, the way things prospered under his care. From that, he drew a conclusion about Joseph’s God. Joseph did not need to put up posters. His conduct told the story.
Paul gave similar instructions to Christian slaves in Crete. They were to be “Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things” (Titus 2:10). To adorn the doctrine means to make it attractive, the way a beautiful setting makes a jewel shine. Honest work by a slave who could easily have stolen made the gospel more beautiful in the eyes of those who watched.
Think about what that looks like in your own setting. The trader whose scale is accurate. The mechanic who tells you the truth about what is wrong with your car. The civil servant who processes a file without asking for anything extra. The student who refuses to cheat in an examination. The landlord who returns the caution fee. The driver who does not take the shoulder of the expressway when traffic is heavy. The employee who does not claim sick leave for a wedding.
The same is true of the places where we now spend so many hours: the screen in our hand. Much of what our colleagues and neighbours see of us today, they see online. They see what we forward on the family WhatsApp group, what we comment under a politician’s post, how we argue in a football thread, what we laugh at, what we say about people of another tribe or faith. A believer who would never insult someone to his face may do it freely from behind a keyboard. A believer who would never tell a lie in a meeting may forward a fake news story without checking it, or a so-called miracle cure that could harm someone who believes it. The light of the world shines on the internet too, or it is hidden there. Before you post, ask whether it is true, whether it is kind, and whether anyone reading it would think better or worse of the Lord whose name is in your profile. Anonymous accounts deserve the same test. God sees the account that has no name.
None of these is spectacular. But each is a small window through which people can see something of Christ. “Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right” (Proverbs 20:11). If a child is known by his doings, so is a Christian.
Without murmurings and disputings
Paul wrote to the church at Philippi about how believers should shine in a dark society:
Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
It is striking that Paul’s first instruction about shining as lights is “Do all things without murmurings and disputings.” Murmuring is grumbling, complaining under the breath. Disputing is arguing, quarrelling, picking fights. These may seem like small sins, but Paul knew that a complaining, contentious Christian is a poor advertisement for the gospel.
Many of us have made grumbling a national pastime. We grumble about NEPA, about traffic, about prices, about the government, about our bosses, about our pastors. Some complaints are justified, and believers should speak truthfully about real problems. But there is a habit of constant complaint that reveals a heart which has forgotten God’s goodness. When a believer grumbles as loudly as everyone else, what makes him different?
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.” Paul does not tell the Philippians to withdraw from their crooked society. He tells them to shine in the midst of it. Blameless means that nobody can bring a fair accusation against you. Harmless means pure, unmixed, without hidden agendas. “Among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” The word for lights can describe stars, shining in a dark sky. The darker the night, the more visible the stars.
And then: “Holding forth the word of life.” Paul joins conduct and message together. The believer shines by how he lives and holds out the word of life to others. The life gives credibility to the word. The word explains the life. Without the word, people may admire our conduct but not know its source. Without the conduct, people may hear our word but not believe it.
NuggetYour conduct and your message belong together. The life you live helps others understand whether the gospel you speak has taken root in you.
Honest conversation among the Gentiles
Peter wrote to believers scattered across Asia Minor, many of whom faced suspicion and slander from their neighbours. He called them “strangers and pilgrims” and urged them to “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Then he added a sentence that Jesus’ disciples would have recognised: “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12).
The word conversation in the King James Version means your whole way of life, the way you conduct yourself in every area. Peter wanted that way of life to be honest, a word that also carries the sense of beautiful, good, attractive. And notice the situation. People were already speaking against these believers “as evildoers.” Christians were misunderstood and accused. Peter’s main answer was to live in such a way that the accusations would collapse under the weight of their good works. “For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (1 Peter 2:15).
And the goal, once again, is that people should “glorify God.” Peter echoes Jesus almost word for word. Good works, seen by others, lead to God’s glory. “In the day of visitation” may refer to a day when God visits these people in mercy, perhaps through the gospel, or to the final day of judgement when everything will be revealed. Either way, the believers’ conduct over months and years would make a difference to how their neighbours saw God.
This word has particular weight for believers in parts of our nation and our world where Christians are misunderstood, resented or even attacked. Peter does not tell such believers to retaliate, and he does not tell them to give up their faith to keep the peace. He tells them to keep doing good: to be the best neighbours, the most honest traders, the most faithful workers, the first to help when a neighbour of any faith is in trouble. Over time, such lives can soften suspicion in a way that arguments rarely do. They do not guarantee safety, and believers facing danger should seek protection and wise counsel. But they make the slander harder to believe.
Peter applies the same principle to wives with unbelieving husbands. They “may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear” (1 Peter 3:1-2). There are some situations where words have been tried and rejected, and only a life can speak. And yet Peter also says, “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). The life provokes the question. The word answers it.
Read of all men
Paul once described the church in Corinth as a letter:
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
“Known and read of all men.” The Corinthian believers were Paul’s letter of recommendation, written by the Spirit of God on human hearts. People who wanted to know whether Paul’s ministry was genuine could look at the lives it had produced.
It has often been said that you may be the only Bible some people will ever read. That can be pushed too far: the Scriptures themselves are the word of God, and no believer’s life replaces them. But it is true that many people form their first impressions of Christ from Christians they know. A colleague, a neighbour, a classmate, a relative. They read us before they read the Book.
The opposite is also true. Paul confronted Jewish teachers who preached the law without living it:
Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
“For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.” That is a sobering sentence. When those who teach about God live in contradiction to what they teach, outsiders draw conclusions about God Himself. In our setting, the believer who quotes Scripture loudly while cheating in business, the church leader whose lifestyle cannot be explained by his income, the Christian who posts verses in the morning and tells lies in the afternoon: these give people reasons to dismiss the gospel. Hussaina’s question to Adaobi was the question many unbelievers silently ask. Which one is the real Jesus?
By this shall all men know
Jesus gave His disciples a further way their lives would be visible:
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.” The light also shows in how believers treat each other. A church where members love one another, care for the poor among them, forgive offences and work through disagreements with grace is a city set on a hill.
The early church in Jerusalem had exactly this effect. They shared their goods, ate together with gladness and praised God, “having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47). Outsiders saw a community of love, and many were drawn to it.
The reverse, sadly, is also visible. When churches fight in the courts over property, when Christians attack each other on social media, when denominational rivalry turns bitter, the world watches and concludes that we are no different from anyone else. Paul urged the Philippians to “let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ... that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). Unity among believers is part of the light.
When the light has been hidden
What should you do if, like Adaobi, you realise that your conduct has contradicted your message? First, receive the truth without defending yourself. Hussaina’s words hurt because they were true, and the most important thing Adaobi could do was to listen.
Second, remember the gospel. You are not saved by your good conduct, and your failures do not cancel your identity in Christ. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). The light of the world has not stopped shining on you. Grace is the ground on which you can face your failures honestly.
Third, repair what you can. Zacchaeus, when he met Jesus, said, “if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold” (Luke 19:8). Apologise to people you have wronged. Tell the truth where you have lied. Make restitution where you have taken what was not yours. These are not ways of earning forgiveness. They are the fruit of having been forgiven.
Fourth, let your life change quietly before you speak loudly again. The world is not impressed by a sudden burst of religious activity. It notices steady, consistent change over time. “Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands... That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).
A word of balance here. Letting your light shine does not mean you must be flawless before you can be a witness. Every believer still struggles, and honest acknowledgement of weakness can itself point people to grace. Nor does it mean that everyone will approve of you if you live well. Jesus lived a perfect life and was still called a glutton, a winebibber and a friend of sinners. Some people will misread you however faithfully you live. You cannot win every person’s approval. Aim instead to make sure that when people speak against you, as Peter says, the charge will not stick, because your life contradicts it. Leave the outcome to God, who sees what people miss.
And finally, do not stop speaking about Christ altogether. Some believers, stung by their own inconsistency, conclude that they should never mention their faith. But the light is meant to shine, and the word of life is meant to be held forth. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). The goal is a life and a message that belong together.
Adaobi did not argue with Hussaina. She went home that evening and cried, and then she prayed, and for the first time in a long while she prayed about herself rather than about the people she wanted to reach.
The next morning she went to the manager and told him the truth about the malaria. He looked at her in surprise and said she would lose a day’s leave. She accepted it. She found the new girl and apologised for how she had handled the Onne account. She bought Mama a small gift and said she was sorry for shouting, and the old woman held her hand for a long time without saying anything.
PunchlineShe did not post any Bible verses on her status for six weeks. She wanted to learn to live her faith at her desk before she announced it again.
Hussaina noticed. She did not say so for a long time. But in March, when her father was admitted to hospital in Kaduna and she had to travel at short notice, Adaobi quietly covered her accounts for two weeks, finished them properly and told nobody.
When Hussaina came back, she found a note on her desk with a cooked meal in a cooler. That evening she came over to Adaobi’s desk and stood there for a moment.
“Ada,” she said. “What happened to you?”
Adaobi smiled. “Jesus,” she said. “The real one.”
Hussaina sat down. “Tell me about Him,” she said. “Properly.”
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- If someone who works or lives close to you were asked to describe your faith based only on your conduct, what would they say?
- Which “ordinary places” in your life most need the light of Christ to be seen: work, traffic, money, speech, or how you treat people who serve you?
- How much of your speech is murmuring and disputing? What would change if you did “all things without” them?
- Is there anyone to whom you need to apologise or make restitution so that your life and your message agree again?
- How can your church community be more visibly marked by the love Jesus described in John 13:35?
This Week
Choose one person at your workplace, school or neighbourhood who knows you are a Christian. For the next week, focus on letting your conduct toward them and around them speak clearly: keep every promise, speak no word of gossip, refuse to grumble, and look for one practical way to serve them without being asked. If there is something you need to put right with someone, do it this week. At the end of the week, ask God for an opportunity to explain the hope that is in you, if they ask.
A Prayer
Lord Jesus, You are the light of the world, and You have made me light in You. Forgive me for the times my conduct has hidden Your light and given people reason to doubt Your name. Let my life and my message belong together. Make me blameless and harmless in the midst of a crooked generation, without murmuring or disputing. Teach me to adorn Your doctrine in ordinary things: in my work, my speech, my money and my dealings with people. Let others see my good works and glorify my Father in heaven. And when they ask about the hope that is in me, give me words to hold forth the word of life. In Your name, Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.