Daily Inspiration Quote by Dwight L. Moody

Moody’s line is a rebuke disguised as a pep talk: stop marketing your virtue. In an age when American Protestantism was becoming inseparable from public performance - revival tours, testimonial culture, the social prestige of “being seen” as righteous - he aims straight at the spiritual ego that feeds on applause. The opening clause, “We are told,” invokes scripture without thundering it; he’s not arguing with the Bible, he’s correcting the way people use it as a stage direction.

The move that makes it work is the double-bind: if your “light” truly shines, announcing it becomes unnecessary, even suspect. Moody quietly turns self-promotion into evidence of dimness. That’s not just moral advice; it’s social diagnosis. Communities learn to reward the loudest goodness, the most conspicuous piety, the charitable act with a receipt attached. Moody insists the real signal is effect, not claims.

The lighthouse metaphor does heavy lifting. It replaces religious self-narration with industrial-era technology: a lighthouse is purpose-built, reliable, and indifferent to ego. It doesn’t “fire cannons” because it has no need to dominate attention; it’s visible through function, not force. The cannons image also hints at coercive religion - loud, punitive, attention-seeking - and contrasts it with a steadier moral presence.

Underneath is a theory of credibility: moral authority isn’t won by volume but by consistency. Moody isn’t saying hide your convictions; he’s saying let them become undeniable, the way light becomes visible by what it reveals.