In Genesis 1:3
God said, let there be light.
Let there be light and there was light
But I find it very interesting the fact that God said not be light, but let there be light. In other words, he wasn't speaking to the light because the light wasn't there. He was speaking to whatever was opposing the light from coming forth.
When God says, let your light so shine before men, he's not speaking to the light. He's not speaking to the light in you. He's speaking to whatever else is trying to oppose the light that is shining on the inside of you.
So if God said, let there be light, if God says, let your light so shine before men, he's giving you a command to in spite of whatever darkness is trying to oppress your light, let it shine anyway.
In spite of the rejection, the fear, the insecurity, the frustration, let your light so shine before men because the world is darkness.
The world is not light. We're the salt of the earth, right?
So we have to choose to say, let it shine anyway.
If you went to elementary school, you know that in a sentence, there's something called a subject and a predicate.
The subject lets you know what the sentence is about. And the predicate lets you know what the subject is doing or what action the subject is about to commit or what it's supposed to be doing.
If God said, let there be light, light is the subject, let is the verb.nThe light's job is to be what it was always meant to be, a shining bright light. But let means don't suppress that just because of what's happening around it or whatever is trying to oppress it.
Be you and shine. That is never going to change. Your light is always going to be a light. But how bright you let it shine is up to you.