Light

Scripture Verse that caught my attention today: 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

Observation: Light is seen as a positive thing.

Application: Throughout the Scriptures we find God to be closely related to light. The first account of creation in Genesis mentions light as God’s first act of creation. Moses was drawn to a burning bush to begin with and later, after encountering God on a mountain, had a face that shown like the light of God.

True, there were occasionally times when God’s people worked in darkness—like when Caleb and others were called to spy-out the promised land—but only so that, come the light of day, the will of God might come to fruition. So it’s little wonder that Christ is known as the light of the world and even referred to the importance of not hiding light under something like a bushel basket.

As humans, however, we have a love/hate relationship with light. We love it when we love it and, well, we hate it when we hate it. In other words, we like the world to see some parts of us and we hate the thought of the world seeing other parts of us.

I’ve been thinking about that a little bit. Why would any of us have any desire to hide anything? After all, we all know that everybody (whether Christian or not) has good points and bad points—saintly parts and sinful parts. Why do we therefore seek to hide or otherwise seek to shield some aspects of our lives from public view?

I believe part of the answer to that has to do with trust. We are not sure (and probably with very good reason) that we can trust everybody with our foilbles. Someone might try to take advantage of us. Not everyone wishes us well. And we do not necessarily always wish everyone else well either. So it’s better to be safe than sorry. Better to keep some of ourselves to ourselves.

But God is light. In God there is no darkness, no ability to hide.

For some this is a fearsome thing. For others, however, it is a glorious thing. It’s glorious not because God overlooks our faults. Rather, God embraces them. Because no matter how decrepit we might be in some areas of our lives, God is able to look us over from head to toe and heart and mind and clean us up. God can put us back on track, set us right, move us on. God can show us where we were going in comparison to where we are ultimately called to go. In God’s light it’s all plain to see.

Prayer: Lord, light up whatever darkness there is in our lives on order that we might see more clearly the way in which you are leading. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Jeremiah 48-49, Psalm 67 and 1 John 1)