Shining before men--a revolutionary thought

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
--Matthew 5:16

We've all heard the above verse, but I don't think we get its implications. A few weeks ago, I heard Francis Chan speak about it at the Passion Conference in the city of Lost Angels (LA).

We often do good deeds, even in the name of Jesus. We might do the things he commands us to do, e.g. giving someone a cup of water or a place to stay.

But, how often do people praise our Father in heaven?

I think it's pretty hard to do things in such a way that people's instantaneous reaction is to praise God.

Maybe that's why when Jesus healed people, he commanded healing, but when we're told how to heal people, we're just told to pray.

A lot of people do command healing, because they see Jesus doing that, but we're told to ask, and it never tells us to command.

Maybe because when we command healing, we get some of the glory, even if God gets most of it, but when we ask for healing, it's pretty obvious that it was entirely God's work, and not our own.