By Pastor Douglas Brauner

The True Light Is Shining

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”
Psalm 139:11-12 English Standard Version

Pastor Aidan Moon recently wrote a Praying With The Eyes devotion entitled, Dwelling in the Shadows, where he wrote about residing in the shadow of God. He also mentioned that in the Christian community we often think of light and darkness in terms of good and evil. Good and evil exist side-by-side.

As much as we would like to dwell further and further into the light, separating ourselves from the darkness and seeing all the blessings God has planned for us who have been baptized into Christ, we find that we often dwell where light and darkness meet.

This struggle between light and darkness takes place inside of us. We know what light looks like, but too often we choose darkness instead. We choose to be greedy. We choose to gossip. We choose to be selfish even we know that God’s desire is that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

This struggle between light and darkness takes place around us. We don’t need to look far in the world to see darkness, darkness that causes our souls to grieve. Marriages fall apart. Children are abused. Humans are sold as sex slaves. It doesn’t get darker than that.

The Apostle John reminds us of an important fact, that even though we live on the edge of light and darkness, in the mercy of Christ, his sacrifice and his resurrection, the light is conquering the darkness.

“…the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.”
1 John 2:8b (ESV)

The day is coming when all we know is light, the light of the Lamb who knows that we dwell on the edge of light and darkness. May our hope be rooted in the One who conquered our darkness.

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado