We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.
What we want is to be real. Let us not appear to be more than we are. Don't let us put on any cant, any assumed humility, but let us be real; that is the delight of God. God wants us to be real men and women, and if we profess to be what we are not, God knows all about us. God hates sham.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Authenticity is essential in our lives, as it aligns us with our true selves and divine expectations.
This quote by Dwight L. Moody emphasizes the importance of being genuine and true to oneself. It suggests that putting on a facade or pretending to be something we are not attracts divine disapproval and that true delight comes from authenticity. Moody argues that to live up to our highest potential as human beings, we must embrace our true identity without the delusions of grandeur or false humility, as God seeks sincerity in all individuals.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about self-acceptance, one might say, 'As Dwight L. Moody reminds us, what we want is to be real, let's not hide behind facades.'
More from Dwight L. Moody
All quotes →There is the joy of one's own salvation. I thought, when I first tasted that, it was the most delicious joy I had ever known, and that I could never get beyond it. But I found, afterward, there was something more joyful that, namely, the joy of the salvation of others.
'Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God' (Rom. 10:17). That is whence faith comes. It is not for me to sit down and wait for faith to come stealing over me with a strong sensation, but is for me to take God at His Word.
There is no greater honour than to be the instrument in God's hands of leading one person out of the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light of Heaven.
Many a professing Christian is a stumbling-block because his worship is divided. On Sunday he worships God; on weekdays God has little or no place in his thoughts.
Let us expect that God is going to use us. Let us have courage and go forward, looking to God to do great things.
Similar quotes
There's a metaphor Vincent Eades likes to use: "If you examine a butterfly according to the laws of aerodynamics, it shouldn't be able to fly. But the butterfly doesn't know that, so it flies.
Heaven - the treasury of everlasting life.
A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.
The world is full of judgment-days, and into every assembly that a man enters, in every action he attempts, he is gauged and stamped.
Don't let the wicked city get you down.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.