Light of the Worldfeatured

‘When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”’  John 8:12

As I have begun to paint, I have learned how critical light is to the success of a painting.  With no clear source of light, a painting looks flat and uninteresting.  However, when the painter determines the source of the light relative to the painting and begins to highlight those areas where the light is shining, the painting begins to take on life.  The light accentuates the beauty and vitality of the various colors and shapes.  The painter then begins to include varying degrees of shadow to depict where there is just a little light or no light at all.  The contrast is what gives life to the painting. 

As a follower of Christ, the light of the world, I am called to let his light shine into my life.  As I do that, His light reveals the beauty of the abilities, talents, unique traits and personality that he created within me.  His light also reveals that He desires for me to use these gifts for His purposes and for His glory.

His light also is a revealer of darkness.  His light exposes my slightly dingy areas as well as the very dark secretive areas that I’d prefer left unexposed – the places where sin has set up shop.  Sometimes I have become quite friendly with a particular shadow and have zero interest in getting rid of that “friend.”  Other times, I just want to put on blinders and totally deny that a particular shadow even exists.

John 12:46 says, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”  He accomplished this on the cross as He paid the price for all my darkness and clothed me in His light.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t just automatically stop sinning the moment I became a Christian!  I have choices as to how to respond to what He did on the cross for me. 

I can choose to not expose myself to His light and stop reading His Word and praying.  I can stop being in the community of other believers.  I can choose to continue to live with those areas of darkness in my life.

Or, out of gratitude for His mercy and grace I can let the His light gently soften my heart and teach me how to say no to those “friendly” sins.  For me this is not a one-day miracle!  I fall off the wagon, and He gently dusts me off and encourages me.  Then, boom, off the wagon again!  However, over time I begin to see that the length of time between my failures is ever so slowly lengthening. 

Of course, when I have semi-conquered one area of darkness, His light reveals another dark area – sigh!  I think we all can relate to this.  This will be our process for the remainder of our days on earth as we allow Him to slowly remove those dark places in our “painting.”

You see, God’s idea of a beautiful painting is different than our earthly standard.  Revelations 22: 5 says, “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light….”  God’s beauty is full of light.  There is no darkness at all – no shadows, no sin.  I think His light is beyond what we can imagine and that its beauty will fill us with delight for eternity.   I’m hoping that when I get there, He will let me try to paint it! [jetpack_subscription_form]