As the light of the world, we must expose deceptive references to light and continue to point everyone to Jesus, who came as the light of the world destroying darkness through His sacrifice on the cross. We have learned — some of us the hard way — that Satan can disguise himself as “an angel of light.” We must live in the true light of salvation, and as Paul tells us: “put aside the deeds of darkness and putting on the armor of light.” We know that “once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true” (Ephesians 5:8-9, NRSVCE)
When God initiated His covenant with Abraham (then Abram), He had him look up into the celestial light of the stars. God used the stars as symbols of His promise to bless Abraham, the ancient, childless patriarch, with many descendents. God also asked Abram to count the stars. Did this seventy-five-year-old man stand outside in night’s darkness and lift his eyes heavenward and begin counting? What we know for certain is that as Abraham looked at the stars “he believed God.” This germ of eternal faith touches all generations, including our own, beckoning us to see the celestial light of these stars — we are those stars, descendents of Abraham by faith, crying out to him for the future, as the enduring light we are to pass on to others.
We are the light of the world, and it must be the light of faith we use as “armor” to protect us from unbelief, and as a weapon of spiritual warfare against the enemy who lives in, loves, and promotes darkness. If Abraham had not looked up but instead continued to live as a wanderer and give up on having a child because he and his wife were far beyond life-giving years, he would have missed the promise of the celestial light of faith. The moment he looked up into the sky, he became the model of a person of faith, a person who never allows circumstance to define her or his relationship to God but instead relies only on His word, which strengthens our faith in the light of truth.
With all the light in our world, from the celestial light that shines from above to the light that shines out from our glittering cities, it is easy to be distracted from our clear call: Be Light, to “make luminous” the world around us, to ignite everyone around us with the hope that comes from above.
In our busy world, it is rare for us to take a moment some evening, find a quiet spot away from the city lights, and gaze up into the heavens. We may feel the emptiness that can come with the vastness of the night sky. We might sense the wonder that the complexity of the galaxies brings. Perhaps by lifting our eyes into the celestial light above, we will feel our deep connection with the Creator, the one who made us in His image — which must include the light that we share — and the One who said,”Let light shine out of darkness. When you walk with God in private, He shines on you in public. Your days of darkness are over. Shine child of God, Shine!”
Samuel Rodriguez appears this Thursday on LIFE TODAY. Copyright ©2016 by Samuel Rodriguez. Excerpted from Be Light by permission of WaterBrook, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
