Coackroaches and Light

The other night I was walking out the door toward the garage steps and flipped the light on just before walking out. As I flipped on the light my attention was immediately drawn to hundreds of large black/brown cockroaches as they scurried up and down, back and forth to find a hiding spot from the light. I have known for some time that we had a number of cockroaches in the garage and a few in the basement but never did I imagine that there were so many.

As I thought about these cockroaches and the way they scurried when the light hit them, I began to think about light as it is described in the Bible, what is light, who is light, what does light do, what does it reveal, who is drawn to the light and who is repelled by the light.

WHAT IS LIGHT

Psalm 119:105 says: "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."

God’s word is both a lamp and a light, it discovers things, within us, concerning God and ourselves that otherwise we could not have known.

Ephesians 5:14 reminds us that "It is light that makes everything visible."

1 John 1:5 tells us that "God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all."

He is all that illuminates truth, and perfection. He does not represent truth and perfection, He is truth and perfection. We are the ones that represent His truth and His perfection.

Hebrews 1:3 further states: "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word."

Then John 1:4-5 says of Jesus: "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it."

And in John 8:12 Jesus is quoted: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."
Colossians 1:13 reminds us that: "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and has brought us into the Kingdom."

John 3:19 states that: "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil."

EVIL HATES THE LIGHT

John 3:20: "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."

TRUTH CRAVES THE LIGHT

John 3:21: "Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

BELIEVERS ARE LIGHT

1 John 1:7: "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin."

Matthew 5:14-16: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven."

Mark 4:21: "Do you bring a lamp in and put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead don’t you put it on its stand?"

Philippians 2:15 tell believers: "You shine like stars in the universe."

BELIEVERS MISSION

Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Jesus Christ, God's Holy Son: "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being"

BUT, as God’s children, aren’t we called to be “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being”.

Grace and Truth

I was having a conversation with a gentleman that I have never met before over facebook this evening, I thought I would copy and paste one of my thoughts from that conversation here:

"Jesus was the perfect blend of "grace" and "truth" (John 1:14). He said what needed to be said, at the time it needed to be said, and in the way it needed to be said. Never skirting the issue or beating around the bush. Yet He did it with grace, never making it a personal attack against someone, only the sin or situation by which they were involved.

It seems to me that each of us find ourselves somewhere on the grace/truth spectrum. It is important that we identify where we stand on this spectrum and that we aim for the center, the perfect match of grace and truth, as Jesus was. When we find ourselves there (and we never will be perfect as Jesus was), then we will be able to answer critics as Jesus did."