“When you do a good deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward" (Matthew 6:2).
Virtue-signaling is a newly-coined turn of phrase, referring to the efforts we make to be culturally correct in order to “have glory from men" (“Humblebrag," another neologism, more aptly describes the practice.) Jesus, on the other hand, said, ”Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and gloify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
"Letting your light shine," is not "doing good deeds," for that would be the opposite of Jesus’ intention. "Do good deeds, that others may see your good deeds”? That might bring glory to us, but how would it glorify our Father in heaven?
No, we should allow Jesus, the light of the world, shine brightly so that others may know that our goodness is the product of His genius and not our own. If we don’t tell our friends and neighbors about Him they’ll think we’re just well-integrated folks with our feet on the ground, but they'll know nothing of their Savior. It’s not enough to do good deeds. We must tell others that Jesus is the source of any goodness that they see in us. We must tell them so He can become their goodness as well.
As I finished this piece I thought of a to-the-point satire by Joseph Bayly, written more than 60 years ago for His Magazine and entitled, “I Saw Gooley Fly.” It was a story about a university student named Herb Gooley who returned from summer vacation with a new-found ability to fly. Literally. Like an eagle.
Each morning Gooley flapped his arms and flew out of the second-story window of his fraternity house, spiraled into the air and soared off to his first class. His classmates observed these remarkable flights, marveled at them, and longed to fly like Gooley. But he never told them how.
They only saw Gooley fly.
David Roper
6.23.21
