Walk Toward the Light

Being a pastor is a rich calling. I get to experience so many wonderful things that many others might miss out on. Recently after finishing a Bible study on the life of Abraham I was engaged in a conversation with a woman from our church. She is a widow and was telling me the story about the last few months with her husband. He was battling a terminal illness and they both knew that without a miracle from the Lord his days were numbered.

She recounted how he suffered excruciatingly. It was not a pleasant experience but she was able to say everything that needed to be said. As the end came she had one last message for her husband that really spoke to my heart. He was a Christian and her last message to him as he labored for every breath was to walk toward the light. In just a matter of moments he left this world and stepped into eternity.

That is our challenge as we live out these days on this planet; to walk toward the Light. What I mean is that we are to live each day walking toward Jesus to know Him better as the Light of the World. This proves to be a challenge because often we do not like coming into the Light because our deeds are evil. Jesus as the Light exposes those evil deeds, thoughts, motives, and attitudes. The challenge is which do we love more, our evil deeds or Jesus?

Far too many love their evil deeds. “This is the judgment that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil, hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light so that his deeds may be manifested as been wrought in God.” Therefore, rather than coming day in and day out before the Light many choose to lurk in the shadows and dark places of not only this world but in their hearts as well. That explains why there is so little difference between church members life styles and those of pagans. Sin is loved, cherished, and fought to protect. We do so behind the cloak that sin is our choice and that is does not affect anyone but us. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our sin hurts and impacts the lives of those around us. Ask the family of the drug user, alcoholic, sex addict, or the one looking for contentment and fulfillment in the things of this world. We will never find what we are looking for in those places. [Jer 2:13]

If I do not love the Light and in fact hate the Light because I do not want Him to expose my evil deeds I will turn about and walk away from Him. People do this everyday. Pagans do it because they are deceived. Christians do it because the flesh is strong and loves for us to live in the shadows rather thank walking toward the Light. If I truly love Him and yearn for Him even if it means exposing the dark places of my heart then I keep walking toward the Light. Day by day, morning by morning, devotion by devotion, worship service by worship service I set my face toward the majesty of the Lord and with resolve set my course walking headlong into it.

This is exactly what I did yesterday morning. I was sitting in my chair in the living room while the rest of the family slept. It was dark outside and the only light in the room came from the lamp on the table near my chair and the scriptures in my heart as a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. [Ps 119:105] I was reading [II Chronicles 7:1-2]. As I was pondering those verses in prayer I could not help but think about the brilliance of the glory of the Lord shining into every dark place in my heart. I want to be consumed by the Light. No shadows. No dark hidden corners. No dimly lit places. I want Him to shine through every crevice of my soul.

In the middle of worship yesterday morning we sang a song with a phrase that grabbed my attention. The phrase was, “with You (referring to God) there are no shadows.” God is such perfect Light that you cannot find a shadow. I saw a little boy walking backward in his driveway on Saturday mesmerized by his shadow. You and I could search for all of eternity and not find an inch or even a millimeter of a shadow in God. Yes, walk toward the Light but don’t stop there, walk in the Light. Be engulfed by this Jesus and let His Light shine through our hearts to dispel the dark places and to comfort us as we walk with Him through the murky shadows of this world stained with sin.

I don’t want to wait until I am staring eternity into the eyes before I start walking toward the Light. I want to walk toward and in the Light now each day so my spiritual eyes are adjusted. I want to walk in the Light until the glittering things of this world no longer hold any appeal. Like the old song says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into His wonderful face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Today you and I face the choice of walking toward the Light or walking toward the darkness. One brings life here and now abundant and afterward eternal. The other brings death a thousand times over now and into eternity a punishment so horrific it defies explanation. So which way will you walk today and when you face eternity? My exhortation is for us all to walk toward the Light for that is where life is both abundant [Jn 10:10] and eternal. [Jn 3:16]