For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in You. (Verses 11-12)
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jesus. John 8
It's been dark lately. Noticed? Kermit Gosnell has been murdering women and children in his clinic for several years. Two brothers from Russia blew up the Boston marathon, killing and maiming. A deaf kid from Texas planned for quite some time how he would slash other students with a knife to make them bleed out his own sense of being an outcast. Thirty-six people were killed by a bomb blast in a busy Bagdad cafe yesterday. And the beat goes on. Night has fallen on our minds and lives. And we need the light.
Jesus said there is only one Source of it. Him. Period. "I am the Light of the world." That would explain a great deal. For He wasn't speaking of the physical sun in that context, although He is the source of that, too. And God said, "Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light was good. And God separated the light from darkness." Jesus was the Logos Who spoke it into being--everything. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him was nothing made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines out in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1) And Jesus isn't just a small lamp or a match lit at midnight. He is the SUN! Lighting up everything. Parsing good from evil in the brilliant daylight of truth. There is darkness where He is not. The blackout of thought, will and action. For we are either thinking like He thinks or we are living our lives in the darkest hours of the night. Struggling to walk through life like one blind, feeling our way along a path we cannot see, fearing all that is around us, paranoid and unsure.
What did Jesus mean by saying He is the light of the world? Such a huge statement. Without Him there isn't light. Physical or spiritual. Of course, when the Triune God said, "Let us make man in our image," Jesus and the Holy Spirit were part of the process. Our sun was thrown into the heavens by the power of the Trinity. So it only makes sense the One Who created us and lit our way on Earth is the only One Who can truly shine clarity into our minds and hearts. He made them like His. Understands them in a way we can only pretend to. If we want wisdom, we must go to the One Who knows. It is with great hubris we follow a lesser light. Rejecting the fullness with which we could see clearly. It is with great humility we follow the Sun Himself, for we then acknowledge we are without purpose and direction, wandering blind, without Jesus. And His Word. Our roadmap, guide and itinerary.
It's a scary world these days. Women, children, college students, runners and relatives just stood around glibly waiting on a breezy Boston afternoon when darkness walked among them and reared its ugly head. It is evil in its nightmarish ambitions. Left death and destruction in its wake. But it will not forever overcome the light. Though it lurks, it will one day be no more. Just as it seemed to destroy the very One Who spoke light into being, when the skies turned ebony at midday and the earth quaked, and it looked like death swallowed the sun, we could despair in our world. But dark cannot prevail in God's domain. That's not what He has in mind. Blessed are those who trust in Him, for Jesus pushed the rock away from the inky confines of the burial tomb and light flooded in to show that it was empty.
And we who know Him? To us He said: "You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven." Italics mine. Matthew 5 Little stars, we are. Reflecting the greater glory of the Sun. It's the only way to illuminate the darkness. Wherever we find ourselves to remember there are those who don't understand what light means and are upset by its glare, the way it stings their eyes and makes them cower. Or makes them mad because now there is no place to hide while they are about the business of a night without a moon. The favor of brightness is that it shields us from the deeds of the devil. It lights up his shenanigans. Protects us from the path our enemy would have us go blindly down because we can see the end. Wisdom is a shield of protection. And it shows we have the favor that only a lighted path can provide.
So, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Many days imperfectly. I blew it yesterday, even. But thank Jesus for light even on that. He quickly made me "see"my mistake and make it right. Oh, Jesus, may we reflect Your glory to a miserable and dying world. And if we die doing it, may we be assured we will live forever in the "city that has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb." May we salt the earth with your Word, O Jesus, and light it with Your fire, until You come again!
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jesus. John 8
It's been dark lately. Noticed? Kermit Gosnell has been murdering women and children in his clinic for several years. Two brothers from Russia blew up the Boston marathon, killing and maiming. A deaf kid from Texas planned for quite some time how he would slash other students with a knife to make them bleed out his own sense of being an outcast. Thirty-six people were killed by a bomb blast in a busy Bagdad cafe yesterday. And the beat goes on. Night has fallen on our minds and lives. And we need the light.
Jesus said there is only one Source of it. Him. Period. "I am the Light of the world." That would explain a great deal. For He wasn't speaking of the physical sun in that context, although He is the source of that, too. And God said, "Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light was good. And God separated the light from darkness." Jesus was the Logos Who spoke it into being--everything. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him was nothing made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines out in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1) And Jesus isn't just a small lamp or a match lit at midnight. He is the SUN! Lighting up everything. Parsing good from evil in the brilliant daylight of truth. There is darkness where He is not. The blackout of thought, will and action. For we are either thinking like He thinks or we are living our lives in the darkest hours of the night. Struggling to walk through life like one blind, feeling our way along a path we cannot see, fearing all that is around us, paranoid and unsure.
What did Jesus mean by saying He is the light of the world? Such a huge statement. Without Him there isn't light. Physical or spiritual. Of course, when the Triune God said, "Let us make man in our image," Jesus and the Holy Spirit were part of the process. Our sun was thrown into the heavens by the power of the Trinity. So it only makes sense the One Who created us and lit our way on Earth is the only One Who can truly shine clarity into our minds and hearts. He made them like His. Understands them in a way we can only pretend to. If we want wisdom, we must go to the One Who knows. It is with great hubris we follow a lesser light. Rejecting the fullness with which we could see clearly. It is with great humility we follow the Sun Himself, for we then acknowledge we are without purpose and direction, wandering blind, without Jesus. And His Word. Our roadmap, guide and itinerary.
It's a scary world these days. Women, children, college students, runners and relatives just stood around glibly waiting on a breezy Boston afternoon when darkness walked among them and reared its ugly head. It is evil in its nightmarish ambitions. Left death and destruction in its wake. But it will not forever overcome the light. Though it lurks, it will one day be no more. Just as it seemed to destroy the very One Who spoke light into being, when the skies turned ebony at midday and the earth quaked, and it looked like death swallowed the sun, we could despair in our world. But dark cannot prevail in God's domain. That's not what He has in mind. Blessed are those who trust in Him, for Jesus pushed the rock away from the inky confines of the burial tomb and light flooded in to show that it was empty.
And we who know Him? To us He said: "You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven." Italics mine. Matthew 5 Little stars, we are. Reflecting the greater glory of the Sun. It's the only way to illuminate the darkness. Wherever we find ourselves to remember there are those who don't understand what light means and are upset by its glare, the way it stings their eyes and makes them cower. Or makes them mad because now there is no place to hide while they are about the business of a night without a moon. The favor of brightness is that it shields us from the deeds of the devil. It lights up his shenanigans. Protects us from the path our enemy would have us go blindly down because we can see the end. Wisdom is a shield of protection. And it shows we have the favor that only a lighted path can provide.
So, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Many days imperfectly. I blew it yesterday, even. But thank Jesus for light even on that. He quickly made me "see"my mistake and make it right. Oh, Jesus, may we reflect Your glory to a miserable and dying world. And if we die doing it, may we be assured we will live forever in the "city that has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb." May we salt the earth with your Word, O Jesus, and light it with Your fire, until You come again!
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