The Light Shines in the Darkness

Light of the world you've stepped down into darkness...

Ah, one of my favorite songs from the Christian artist, Chris Tomlin. I heard this song at church just last Sunday, and something my Chaplin said after worship really stuck with me, "He stepped down into darkness and pierced it with light." Why did this small sentence send shock waves throughout my Spirit?

A couple of months ago I was scrolling through Facebook when I came across an image. It was titled with 'I didn't know until I was today years old'. In the image, there was someone's hand holding a match, along with the shadow of said hand and match. The match was lit, but the flame had no shadow. There were words on the image (or meme) that said 'fire has no shadow'.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:5

That's when I felt the wordless groans of the Holy Spirit, "Light cancels out all the darkness that is in its wake." Then it occurred to me, light has no shadow because it cancels out darkness, but darkness can never cancel out light because darkness is but the absence of light. So, when my Chaplin had said, "He stepped down into darkness and pierced it with light." it resonated in my Spirit. But this puzzle that God was giving me pieces to, wasn't complete.

We were going over Chapter 9 of the book of John. As he was reading about the blind man who was healed by Jesus, my Chaplin described how our eyes work, "Light bounces off objects and reflects back into our eyes.", he said. Another wordless groan - 'you cannot see without light'.

I've been speaking in the physical sense of light, but now I'm going to translate into the Spiritual sense. We are born in sin and therefore blind to God. We cannot see Him because we live in darkness. It is only with His light that we can see. So, now that Jesus has stepped down into darkness and gave us His light, all of our darkness (sin) is eradicated. As I write, I can hear it again, ' you cannot see without light'.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.

Psalm 119:105

He guides us with His divine light; without it, we would be left stumbling and falling in the dirt.

You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

Psalm 18:28

Uswhobelieve, He has and will turned our darkness (our sin, our shame) into light with every confession of sin. As I mentioned in my 1 John Series 'He is forgiving, but He still expects us to confess our sins and turn away from them. We will stumble and fall at some point, but the first step is to recognize our sin. Confessing isn't bringing bad things you did to the Father so that you can be punished, but it is acknowledging your sin and bringing it to Him so that it can be eradicated. That is the purpose of confessing'.

We have to bring our sin, our darkness, to God so that light can be shed on it. And now that we have His light, we need to show it to others. We aren't meant to hide it away. This reminds me of what another Pastor in my life had said, "If your floor is dirty, you don't cover it with rugs. You expose it and get rid of it before you have a layer of dirt, rug, dirt, rug, dirt, rug."

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. in the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

So, my friends, embrace His light and let is rest upon your face. Let it bring a smile to your lips. Open your eyes so that the light may bounce off things that the Father wishes to reveal to you. My puzzle (a.k.a my complete thought that God wanted to reveal to me) is complete and I am so glad to have shared it with you.

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