GO AFTER THE LIGHT!

Jesus, the Light of the world, is the only One who can keep us from the darkness that surrounds us. Seek His Light through the Word and His presence each day.

ETERNAL PERSPECTIVES             by Sally Bair

Light has come

While the sun sweeps from east to west along its southerly arc in winter, our eyes become blinded to its glare. Driving against the low sunlight is especially hard. And the direct sunlight against our windows shows every speck and smear and spider web. We may think life spent in the shadows is better sometimes, because then others won’t see our specks and smears.

We also may feel like living in the shadows of our sins rather than in the exposing light of God’s Word. Jesus told Nicodemus, a seeker of the truth, “He who believes in [God] is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:18-20)

Realizing sin is God’s enemy—and ours—is the first step toward walking in the light of God’s love. Our sin must be treated like the enemy it is. When we are spiritually passive, content to remain in our sin, it shows how static our life is. As our body loses strength when it’s not moving and as our mind loses its ability to function well when it becomes stagnant, so our spirit begins to atrophy when we refuse to move in His direction. God would have us move, act and change for His sake and ours.

We may have experienced a troubled past or the future may appear dark and frightening. But God has given us a choice. We can wallow in our self-pity, our fear or our hopelessness, or we can look to the light—the Son-light—knowing God will forgive us when we repent of our sins. He will heal our wounds and guide us along His sun-bright path toward wholeness and growth.

No matter where we’ve been or where we are in relationship to God, we can know that He is loving, patient and merciful. The Bible tells us that. “Seek the Lord while He may be found …. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)

Lord, thank You for being our Light in the darkness. Forgive us our sins that we may leave our shadows of fear and faithlessness behind and be made in Your image. In Jesus’ name, amen.