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In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
Reflect
When I was a kid, one of my favorite treasure troves was my mother’s record collection. She had two boxes – one red and one green – that were filled with records by her favorite artists from when she was a teenager. These “45s” were very special to her, so I had to get permission just to look through them, let alone play them. Of course, Elvis Presley was one of her favorites, but the one I loved the most was Buddy Holly.
Buddy had a unique sound, at least for his time, and he was groundbreaking in the way that he played, sang and recorded. Sadly, Buddy was taken unexpectedly in a plane crash when he was just 22 years old, in the same crash that claimed J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens. The crash was immortalized in song years later as “the day the music died” by Don McLean in his classic, “American Pie.”
But honestly, the music didn’t die that day. It kept traveling.
Before he became a star, Buddy Holly had been a voracious student of music. He listened closely to the styles of countless people he admired and incorporated pieces of what he heard into something that became distinctly his own. Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley and Bill Haley & His Comets were among those who influenced him. Then Buddy became an influence himself. His recording career lasted barely two years, yet future legends including Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen have all pointed to Buddy Holly as an inspiration.
He listened before people listened to him.
Another young man who recorded music for only a few years also left an influence that continued long after his death – and that influence eventually reached me.
Keith Green had been a child prodigy, recording professionally while he was still barely old enough for junior high. Years later, Keith had a life-changing encounter with the Lord. Influenced by the teachings of 19th-century preacher Charles Finney, Keith began devoting his life and his music to pointing people toward Jesus.
Keith inspired countless musicians who wanted to glorify God through their music, but one of his songs also made a difference in my own life. On June 17, 1984, it was his song, “Altar Call,” that finally helped me admit that I couldn’t save myself and that I needed Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Keith Green had died in a plane crash nearly two years earlier.
He never knew me. He never knew that one day a teenager in Florida would hear one of his songs and respond to the Gospel. But his influence kept traveling.
That brings us back to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5. He tells us to let our light shine before others, but He also tells us why: “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
That is the goal.
So there are a few questions worth asking today. Who is influencing you? Who are you influencing? And where is that influence pointing?
The people who shape us matter because some of what they pour into us will eventually come out in the way we speak, think, work, love and live. We should surround ourselves with people who point us in a good and godly direction.
But we also need to remember that our own influence may travel much farther than we ever realize.
Buddy Holly could not have imagined a little boy years later digging through his mother’s record collection and becoming fascinated with his music. Keith Green could not have known that a song he recorded would help lead someone to Christ after Keith himself was gone.
The same may be true of us.
Something you say, write, teach, create, encourage or simply model through the way you live may reach someone you never expected. You may never even know that it happened.
And that is why the most important question may not be whether people notice our light. It is whether, when they do, it helps them see the Father.
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Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
