Matthew 5:16

Plain English Version

You have to be like that candle. You have to let everyone see that you are following me. They will see all the good things you do, and they will say good things about God, your father in heaven. They will say, ‘God is really great.’ ”

Cross References

Matthew 5:45

If you do that, you will be just like your father in heaven. He gets the sun to shine on everybody, bad people as well as good people. And he gets the rain to fall on everybody, good people and bad people too.

Matthew 6:16

Jesus kept on teaching the people. Some of those people used to stop eating for a while, so they can think about God and respect him. Jesus said, “Whenever you stop eating for a while, make sure you look the same as you always look. You know, there are some people that want everyone to think they are good, even though they are not good. Whenever they stop eating food to respect God, they want everyone to know what they are doing, so they let their faces get dirty, and they try to look sad. They want people to say, ‘That’s a good person.’ But listen, that is all those people will get. God will not give them anything good for doing that. Don’t be like them.

Matthew 6:9

So pray like this, ‘God, our father, you live in heaven. We want everyone to respect you.

John 15:8

And when you live God’s way, other people will see the good things that you do, and they will know that you are my followers, so they will respect my father. You will be like a branch that grows a lot of fruit.

Acts 9:36

There was a Christian woman that lived in a town called Joppa. Her name was Tabitha. Her name in the Greek language was Dorcas. She always did good things and helped poor people.

1 Corinthians 14:25

Those messages from God will show them every secret thing that they think about, and they will get down on the ground and show respect to God. And they will say, “It’s true, God is really here with you mob.”

Galatians 1:24

Those Christians heard that I changed, and they were happy, and they thanked God and said that he is really great.

Ephesians 2:10

God is the one that made us what we are, and he wants us to do good things. He already has those good things ready for us to do. He turned us into new people, and he joined us to Jesus Christ, so now we can do those good things.

Ephesians 5:8

You see, you used to be like that before. You didn’t know what was right, like you were living in the dark. But then you came to our leader, Jesus, and now you are in the light. So live like people that belong to the light.

1 Thessalonians 2:12

We taught you, and we helped you to be brave and strong. And we told you very strongly to do things that make God happy. You see, God is the one that picked you to be in his own family, and you will be really great with him.

1 Timothy 2:10

This is more important. They have to do good things for other people, so that everyone will see that they are women that really know God.

1 Timothy 5:10

She has to be the sort of woman that everybody respects because she always did good things for people. She has to be a woman that brought her kids up properly. She has to be a woman that always gave strangers food and a place to sleep. She has to be a woman that did all sorts of things to help God’s people. She has to be a woman that always helped people in trouble and was always ready to do good things.

1 Timothy 6:18

So tell them to use their money to do good things for other people. Tell them to be ready to give it to people that need it.

Titus 2:14

Jesus died to save us from all the bad things of this world. He did that to change us into his own special people, like he properly cleaned us inside, and now we don’t want to do anything bad, but we only want to do good things.

Titus 2:7

You too, you have to always do good things. Then the young men will see you, and they will do good things too. You always have to teach the true message, and remember, your job is important.

Titus 3:14

And teach our people to do good things like that all the time. They have to help anybody that really needs things. When they do that, they will be doing something good with their lives.

Titus 3:4

But then God did something to help us. He showed us how much he loves us.

1 Peter 2:12

You live in the same place with people that don’t follow Jesus. So you have to make up your mind to always do things that are good. Sometimes people might tell lies and blame you and say you have done wrong. But if you always keep on doing whatever is right, they will see that you do good things. Later, after God comes to judge everybody, they will remember the good things you did, and they will respect him.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are the people God picked out for himself. Together you work for him, like the men that looked after his ceremonies. You are his own family. God called you away from doing bad things, so you can do good things. It is like you used to live in the dark so that nobody could see you do bad things there, but now he called you away from that to live in his good light. So let’s tell everyone that God is really great and really good.

1 Peter 3:1

Now I’m talking to you women that are married. You have to think about what your husbands want and agree with them. Some husbands don’t do what God’s word says, but if they see you living right, they will want to come to God. You don’t have to say a word, you just have to live right.

1 Peter 3:16

Tell them clearly, and respect them as you talk to them. Make sure you always live the right way, so you don’t feel shame. Some people rubbish Christians, but if they see you doing the right things, they will feel shame about themselves.

1 Peter 4:11

If you can tell stories to people, then tell them God’s story, and tell it clearly. If you can help other people, then let God make you strong so you can help them properly. Do everything properly so that when people see it, they might say that God is really great. If they know that you follow Jesus, they might thank God for sending Jesus to us. Jesus has really great power now, and he will have that power for ever. That’s true.

1 Peter 4:14

Maybe people are making fun of you because you follow Jesus. But don’t worry, it shows that God is happy with you, and that God’s spirit is with you. His spirit is great and has a lot of power.