November 3

Read: Matthew 5:14-16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Holiness And The Radiant Life

“A man stopped to chat with a little girl who was making mud pies. Her face and dress had suffered in the process. ‘My,’ he exclaimed, ‘you’re pretty dirty, aren’t you?’ ‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘but I’m prettier when I’m clean!’ She was right. Not only little girls, but all of life is prettier when it is clean.

“A shining countenance speaks of a radiant soul. The Psalmist knew this secret when he wrote, They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed’ (Psalms 34:5). The Chinese translate the verse: ‘All who look to the Lord have light in their faces.’ Calvary is the provision for the radiant life. Beholding the brightness of the Messiah, John wrote, ‘In him was life; and the life was the light of men’ (John 1:4).

“This divinely bestowed radiance finds its full sunrise in spiritual life when the soul is cleansed and filled with the fullness of the Spirit. His light then not only dispels the darkness of sin about us, but penetrates the inner man until every trace of sin is gone and all is light!

“God has planned that this holy radiance shall be an ongoing quality of our lives, for He has given a continuing light. The Bible tells us, ‘If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin’ (I John 1:7). One rendering of the verse is: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son keeps on cleansing from all sin.’ The Holy Spirit within us is the Source and Sustainer of this radiant life” (C. William Ellwanger).

Prayer For Today

O God, make me a radiant Christian. May the light Thou hast put within my heart keep a glow in my spirit. May it reflect itself to others from my life. In Jesus” name I ask it. Amen.