Light : In Lots & Lots of Words

Light is a recurring theme throughout Scripture, and I love it. What a rejuvenating gift summer sunshine is, and yet it’s still just a shadow of the glory we are given in Christ!

• “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) The Light wins, friends! Actually, it’s already won!

• “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:9) The Light came to sacrifice Himself for us, who loved the darkness and avoided light.

• “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:19-21) Any and all good things are accomplished because we walk in the Light, not from any intrinsic goodness of our own, because we have none.

• “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) (Not in today’s reading, but a great nugget to look forward to tomorrow… 😊)

All these verses reminded me of the passage in Ephesians 5:8-13 that Pastor Jeff preached on recently: “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.” 

Here we are again! Pointed back to the true Source of Light, Jesus Christ Himself.

And that reminded me of another verse that I’ve been meditating on recently. It doesn’t reference light specifically, but it does speak of glory, alluding to the event in the Old Testament when Moses beheld the glory of God and then had to wear a veil over his face, because he was so radiant from being in the Lord’s Presence. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another...” (2 Corinthians 3:18a) Oh, how I long to spend time in His Presence and to reflect His glory! Don’t you?

A couple verses before this one, we are told that this phenomenon happens as one “turns to the Lord.” No matter what difficult or distracting circumstances might be drawing us away from the Lord this morning, God invites us to turn our faces toward Jesus Christ, the Light of Life, to walk in Him, and be changed from one degree of glory to another. Just by means of encouragement, one way to do this is to seek the light of Christ through the pages of His glorious Word (and, for the record, there are a lot of other Scriptures about light to be found). So… let’s keep reading, friends!