"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light..."
Have you ever walked through the valley of the shadow of death? Paul says you are the shadow. Death loomed wherever you went. You were darkness, given over to depraved hearts and minds, and Satan was your lord, the prince of darkness. You who knew not Christ did the bidding of another. But now you are light in the Lord.
Where once you were blind, now you see clearly your condition. Now the the light has come into the world and has exposed what was in the dark. This light brings life, but these days are evil. And Satan cannot touch you. How can he? He only moves about in the darkness, and in the darkest and most remote corners of our heart he wreaks havoc. But just as a fire holds no shadow within it, so to do the children of the light do what Christ does, the first light.
Paul exhorts us to not just to do and obey, but the realize the truth that we are light. We are to grasp that reality by living it. And what does light do? It exposes wrong doing and speaks the truth in righteousness. Remember, one candle which lights another loses neither light nor heat. Embrace your true identity as a child of the light, that light which is God.
Showing posts with label light. Show all posts
Showing posts with label light. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Isaiah 9:2
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned."
Do not doubt in the dark what you have seen in the light. When a great storm comes upon you and knocks out the power, you blindly stumble throughout the house. Suddenly a flash of lightning shakes the house and illuminates the room. For the briefest of moments, you know where you are and how to get to where you are going. When the room fades again to black, the reality of the room does not disappear but rather is hidden.
Such is faith to us, like lightning in the deep dark of night. Amidst the sea of doubt and the fog of suffering, our God is a lighthouse, a salvation for those lost at sea. And you only need to see it once through the cracks of obscurity to forever know it is there, seen or unseen. We walk in the light whether the light shines or not because it's there whether we see it or not.
But what we cannot do is convince another of what we have seen. All they see is dark and fog without the light. Only by trust would a man believe solely upon our word, but it would not be real in his mind until he sees what we saw in the light. All we can do is simply tell him where to look when the lightning strikes.
on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned."
Do not doubt in the dark what you have seen in the light. When a great storm comes upon you and knocks out the power, you blindly stumble throughout the house. Suddenly a flash of lightning shakes the house and illuminates the room. For the briefest of moments, you know where you are and how to get to where you are going. When the room fades again to black, the reality of the room does not disappear but rather is hidden.
Such is faith to us, like lightning in the deep dark of night. Amidst the sea of doubt and the fog of suffering, our God is a lighthouse, a salvation for those lost at sea. And you only need to see it once through the cracks of obscurity to forever know it is there, seen or unseen. We walk in the light whether the light shines or not because it's there whether we see it or not.
But what we cannot do is convince another of what we have seen. All they see is dark and fog without the light. Only by trust would a man believe solely upon our word, but it would not be real in his mind until he sees what we saw in the light. All we can do is simply tell him where to look when the lightning strikes.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Psalm 18:28
"Because you cause my lamp to brighten, O LORD my God, my darkness shines." (My translation)
There are a few other references to lamps in the Old Testament, referring to them as guidance (Ps 119:105) or as a metaphor for life (Job 21:17, 2Sam 21:17). There is also a curious case in Ps 131:17 which has strong ties to John 5:35 (John the Baptist as the lamp set up for the Anointed, preparing his path). There are also New Testament references to eyes being the "lamps of the body" (Matt 6:22), but again it ties into the direction metaphor (Your eyes will guide your direction as a lamp). This is supported by Prov 21:4, which states that "haughty eyes and a proud heart" are the lamp of the wicked. One other metaphor connects lamps to searching (Prov 20:27, Lk 15:8). So why this talk about lamps?
It is the LORD who sustains us and guides us. It is he who is the light of the world to bring us out of our darkness and he who can pierce into our darkness to search us. The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness can not overcome it but instead retreats to secluded places where the light has not yet touched. And so we are to be the salt and light of the earth, to sustain it and to illumine it. Can you feel that light within you? It is God which shines through you if you open your eyes.
There are a few other references to lamps in the Old Testament, referring to them as guidance (Ps 119:105) or as a metaphor for life (Job 21:17, 2Sam 21:17). There is also a curious case in Ps 131:17 which has strong ties to John 5:35 (John the Baptist as the lamp set up for the Anointed, preparing his path). There are also New Testament references to eyes being the "lamps of the body" (Matt 6:22), but again it ties into the direction metaphor (Your eyes will guide your direction as a lamp). This is supported by Prov 21:4, which states that "haughty eyes and a proud heart" are the lamp of the wicked. One other metaphor connects lamps to searching (Prov 20:27, Lk 15:8). So why this talk about lamps?
It is the LORD who sustains us and guides us. It is he who is the light of the world to bring us out of our darkness and he who can pierce into our darkness to search us. The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness can not overcome it but instead retreats to secluded places where the light has not yet touched. And so we are to be the salt and light of the earth, to sustain it and to illumine it. Can you feel that light within you? It is God which shines through you if you open your eyes.
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