Testimony in Life and Speech

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
 
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16).
"And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed." Acts 14:11And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. (Acts 14:1).
Oh! how this little word "so shine" should echo in our hearts. Once we were darkness, but now we are light in the Lord, and so the Lord says to us, "Walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:88For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (Ephesians 5:8)). May the fruit of the light be seen in us as the blessed traits of our Lord and Savior are produced in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Have we not desired that we might "so speak" that some might believe? It is interesting to notice Acts 14:33Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (Acts 14:3) in connection with the speaking in Iconium: "A considerable time therefore they stayed, speaking boldly in reliance on the Lord, that gave witness unto the word of His grace." (W. Kelly Trans.) Here is a thought we ever need to have before us if we desire to so speak that souls may be blessed—it must be in reliance on the Lord. Dependence is that which should mark us, and in this connection it is interesting and profitable that we should think of the perfect Servant—the Lord Jesus—here in this world. Even His enemies had to confess that "never man spake like this man"; literally, "never man so spake as this man." Oh, how true this was! In Him the weary found rest, for He knew how to speak a word in season to such.
In Isa. 50 we are told the way the perfect Servant lived. "The Lord GOD hath given Me the tongue of the learned [learner or disciple, as chapter 8:16], that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned [learner]." It is wonderful to think' of the dependence of the Lord Jesus as man here in this world. He spent whole nights in prayer to God. What an example He gives us! May we know more of what this dependence is. May we be found feeding upon His Word morning by morning, that we may know how to speak.