“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). Although every generation faces its own levels of evil, wickedness, and ugliness, it does seem that now, more than ever, people are inclined to look out at all that is wrong with the world and, with cynicism and despair in the depths of their souls, ask how a loving, benevolent, All-powerful God could possibly exist. Theologians and philosophers have been trying to answer this question for so long that they've even given a special name for these arguments for God's existence in the face of so much evil. They call these arguments theodicies. And while some of these rationales and vindications may be more or less persuasive, there is one thing that Jesus Christ Himself taught us can convince people more than anything else of the reality and goodness of God. It is our good works. No one who is dying of thirst in the middle of the desert can hold onto their belief in the fundamental wickedness of humanity when someone goes out of their way to give them a drink of water and a ride back to safety. When all of us are cowering in fear and one person stands up and tells the truth, we all cheer. When we witness a virtuoso performance from a street performer, we are stopped in our tracks and forget all about our busy appointment. We are moved to tears by the compassion shown in a dog food commercial. We are drawn to light like moths to a flame. We can not witness a good work and do anything other than glorify God in our hearts. Some of us may not acknowledge explicitly that this is what we are doing, but every time we get goosebumps, or our eyes start to mist over, or a great calm and stillness descends upon us so that we are completely absorbed by the light and the beauty and the truth of these good works that we see, to the point that we are communing with eternity itself, then how else could we possibly describe ourselves in such a state other than the praising and worshiping and glorifying of Almighty God? Every time we tell the truth, love our neighbor, forgive our enemies, serve those in need, paint a painting, lend a cup of sugar, conduct a symphony, lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees, and in any other way let our light shine that others may see our good works, we are converting, even if just for a moment, some hardened, embittered, cynical, utterly despairing disbeliever into an awestruck, love-filled, lights-in-their-eyes, believing child of God.
