We Are Not The Source Of Light

Each night as I put my 8 year old daughter to bed, I turn on her unicorn nightlight. It is an LED nightlight that rotates through all the colors of the rainbow and lights her room up like a dance hall. On nights when she is sick and I lay in bed with her, I still see the lights with my eyes closed because they are so bright.

She is scared of the dark. I have to convince her each night there are no monsters under her bed and nothing hiding in the shadows of her room. After she falls asleep, my husband goes in and turns off her nightlight.

I go in the next morning to wake her up for school and her room is pitch black. I turn on her bathroom light so I can see and hope that it helps wake her up. She complains every morning about how bright the light is. She does not want to go to sleep in a dark and scary room and each morning she does not want to wake up because the light is too bright.

When she wakes up in the dark she’s comfortable, she doesn’t even realize there is something to be scared of. Once she gets used to the dark bedroom and her eyes adjusted to the low light, she forgets how scary the dark can be.

This makes me think of my sin.

Jesus is the light of the world. He is the creator of life and His life brings light to mankind. The light Jesus brings to the world is what makes us realize our sin. Before Jesus enters our hearts and we accept Him as our Savior, we live in darkness. We do things that we don’t even recognize as sinful behavior. We read books, watch television shows, engage in conversations, and attend events that cause us to be immune to the sinfulness they portray. Then by the grace of God, when we become believers in Jesus Christ His light becomes so bright it is almost blinding.

I find myself asking the question, why as Christians do we find it ok to sometimes live in the dark? Why do we feel we can choose to flip the light on or off?

The first thing I have to remind myself of is that we are not the source of light, Jesus is. We live in a world of darkness that surrounds us. Everywhere we go we find darkness. It is lurking around every corner. It is in our children’s schools, our gyms, our friend groups, even in our churches. People do not bring light into the world, but they do have the opportunity to reflect it. Christ has chosen to reflect His light through His followers. If we are not the source of the light then it is something we have to choose to carry around with us.

I think the bigger question I need to be asking myself is, am I choosing to reflect Christ’s light?

I can grow immune to the darkness. I can fall into the trap of gossip. I can sleep in fifteen more minutes instead of getting up for my quiet time with God. I can let my selfishness keep me from serving in my church. I can watch this popular show on Netflix even though it is full of immorality. Or I can choose to live in the light and reflect it. This is not an easy task, but with the help of Jesus we can avoid walking blindly and falling into sin. When Jesus lights up our sin, at first it may seem harsh and shameful. We may wish for the lights to be turned back off, but then we are showered with grace and mercy. Our sin is washed away and we adjust to the light. The light then is what is normal to us. When the light gets turned back off, fear overwhelms us.

We were created to live in the light, not the darkness. Staying in God’s Word, setting standards in our lives for how we live amongst the darkness, and keeping our communication with God open so that we see how He wants us to reflect His light are all ways to combat living in darkness. We are to always remember that we are not the source of light. Instead we are to point others to Christ, the Light.

Digging Deeper:

Read John 1:1-14

How is Christ calling you out of the darkness?

How do you reflect the light of Christ?

Where can you be intentional in your daily life to reflect Jesus’ light?