Pastoral Letters

Let Your Light Shine before Others

April 3, 2022 Author:Pastor Andrew Tan
The war in Ukraine has left millions homeless, dead, and still suffering. The accounts of what Ukrainians are going through pains the hearts. It is heart-warming to hear how various countries, including Poland, Romania, and other countries, extend kindness to these Ukrainian refugees. Some families even took these refugees into their homes. These kind deeds require personal sacrifices. We also thank God that churches took up the responsibility to care for these refugees. As a result, many experienced the unconditional love of God. These acts of kindness caused many who had never thought about believing in Jesus to read the Bible and experience peace. Children and adults asked for Bibles. Through the love shown by Christians, misunderstandings about the Christian faith were removed. Even long-time atheists were attracted to the Christian faith. They started thinking about life most important question—death. These refugees not only found shelter in churches. They found Jesus as Saviour. They found eternal life, the best gift.

Truly, this is what Jesus spoke of when he instructed his disciples to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:16). The Ukraine war is a crisis—suffering in the most extreme form. Yet for many, it is a blessing—only in times of suffering will people see the light that Christians emit most clearly so that humankind receive the most important gift—Jesus and eternal life.

Dear children of God, the world has many needs. But that which can truly satisfy humankind, is as Jesus once said in John 4:13-14:

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

But if people are to know who Jesus is and his reality, it is through you, more precisely, through your good and loving behaviour as a Christian. You may not get what I mean. What I mean is this: your classmate will know Jesus only through you who is his/her classmate. Why? Because you spend a lot of time with your classmate, you are the main person through whom your non-Christian classmate can know Jesus. It also means if you do not behave well as a Christian, your classmate will miss the opportunity to know Jesus. The same applies for your colleague in the office or in the factory.

You may not know how to preach a sermon. You may not know how to share the gospel. Yet you can do something very effective that will bring eternal life to people: “let your light shine before others” through your kind deeds. Make sacrifices to love people. Pray for these lost souls. Invite them to the coming gospel meetings on Good Friday (Friday 15/3; 10:30am) and Easter Sunday (Sunday 17/3; 10:30am). On these two days, someone will share about how she got to know Jesus as Saviour. The choir will also present a song. And I will preach a gospel message about God’s love on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday, I will prove that Jesus truly was raised from the dead on Easter. Pray and invite your loved ones and friends.

No matter how happy your friends seem, deep inside them is a deep and frightening emptiness. How can they be truly happy when life is filled with so many sufferings? Nothing can truly satisfy them because the pleasure the world offers lasts only a little while. How can their hearts have peace when the problem of death is not solved? Everyone needs Jesus urgently. Hence, be a good and loving Christian at home, in school and at work. Invite them to the coming gospel meetings. Jesus has solved all of life’s most important problems. Give them Jesus and you would have given them everything good now and eternally.