You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Ephesians 5:8-14
You are Light in the Lord
If you get up early to go outside and wait for the sunrise, you know what it's like to sit in darkness. Until the light comes, you can't see anything because the darkness hides things and obscures things and makes things impossible to see. Until the light comes, you can't do anything, because the darkness covers things and confuses things and makes things impossible to do.
But then, just as you think the darkness couldn't get any deeper, you finally see it. The horizon begins to brighten in the east, and dawn begins to break. The sun begins its ascent into the sky, and its light is now cast all around you. It's a total transformation! Everything you couldn't see before is now visible. Everything you couldn't do before is now possible.
In the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus say, "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). It's a beautiful name for Jesus: "the Light of the World." In the same way that the sun breaks the darkness of the earth as it rises in the east every morning, so too has Jesus broken the spiritual darkness that once covered our world and our life.
Through his life and work, all of us who were once living in the darkness of sin can now look to Jesus, the Light of the World, and see forgiveness. All of us who were once facing the darkness of eternal death as the consequence for sin can now look to Jesus, the Light of the World, and see eternal life. It's a total transformation! Through faith in Jesus, there is now no more curse of sin, no more power of death, no more eternal darkness. Only free forgiveness. Only full life. Only everlasting light.
Oh, what an impact this has on every single day of your life! In the darkness, you can't see. But in the light you can! In the darkness, you can't function. But in the light you can! And you? "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." And because you now are light in the Lord, you now can "live as children of light." It's a total transformation! "You are light in the Lord." So, now, you can live like who you are.
"Fruitless deeds of darkness" aren't a part of who you are anymore because "you are light in the Lord." "What the disobedient do in secret" isn't a part of who you are anymore because "you are light in the Lord." What now characterizes your life instead? "The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth." These are the things that now characterize your life in Christ, because these are the things that now characterize who you are. "You are light in the Lord."
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Light of the World, and you have made us light by bringing us into the light of your forgiveness, mercy, and love. Bless and keep us today and always as you give us the strength to now live like who we are by faith in you, our Savior. Amen.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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