1 John 1:5 - "...God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."
Genesis 1:4 - "God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness."
Job 33:28 - "He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit, and my life shall see the light"
Psalm 18:28 - "For You light my lamp; The Lord my God illumines my darkness."
Proverbs 13:9 - "The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked goes out."
Ephesians 5:8 - "for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light"
God is Light, and through Him our darkness is illumined and we are light too. God isn't just bright or kind of light or more light than us, He is Light. There is no darkness in Him at all. We were darkness, not dark or a little dim or dark just in comparison, we were darkness. But He lights our lamps. He shines in our darkness. He makes us His children of Light. His children. We haven't just been altered, we have been made entirely new. We were once the opposite of light, darkness, and now we are the opposite of darkness, light. We were nothing like light. We were full of sin and error and darkness. And now we are full of light and goodness and Him.
When Job was afflicted, he looked to the light. He saw that God was light and that one day he would see that light, even if it was after a world of darkness. The psalmist too saw that God was light, and had the power to light. And not just to light anything, but to give light to the darkness that is us. Solomon tells us about the light of the righteous rejoicing and the light of the wicked going out. Thanks to God's grace we share His righteousness and therefore His light too. And Paul encourages us to walk as children of Light, children of God.
Unfortunately, sin blocks His light from shining through us. Pride blocks His light with our own conceited darkness. Lust blocks His light with our own dark desires. Gossip blocks His light with the harm of others. Hate blocks His light with our human hearts. Sin blocks God's light with our darkness. But by grace we are free from sin, we are conquerors of sin, we are children of Light! So through song, through service, through gathering, through speech, through teaching, through encouraging, through giving, through whatever means available let Him shine through us. Pray that His light would be ever stronger through our vessels and that our darkness would continually grow weaker and dissolve more.
Chotki’s daylight
2 years ago
so true!
ReplyDeletethis reminds me of one of our Bible studies back in the summer. we were talking about the beauty of God and the beauty of His creation. it was a beautiful sunny day and we were sitting outside in a playground and I looked up at the clouds and I said, "Look at the clouds. look at how the light hits them and reflects off. it's beautiful. but God says that He is light and if God is light, just imagine what Heaven will be like with the pure Glory of God's face reflecting not off of water vapor, but pure crystal walls and streets of gold."
isn't God amazing? with all the Light that God shines at our feet to guide us and all the Light that Jesus uses to purify our souls, just imagine how we will experience that very Light when we are standing before the source in all His Glory.
2 Corithians 4:6-7 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
ReplyDeleteAnd how amazing it is that the Light came from nowhere! You're right.. we weren't dim and He lightened us.. our darkness was a blackhole and He made light shine out of it! Explain that! And now we can see into our hearts to examine ourselves and see into other people to help them do the same. God is Love, God is Light. In Him there is no other.