JUST KEEP REFLECTING -- Devotional for April 26, from "Good Seeds"

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden…Let your light shine before men in such a way, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matt 5:16)

The Bible has many descriptions of God. One of His most fundamental characteristics is light. I John 1:5 says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” Darkness is not an independent entity, that is, it has no self-contained existence. It is simply the absence of light. How do you dispel darkness? Easy: just turn on the light! The first verse in the Bible says our world began at creation. The second verse says that world was without form and empty. We know it was also dark, for the third verse says the next thing God did was to create light: “And God said, ‘Let there be light. And there was light.’” Even as on the sixth day when God created man in His own image, breathing into him a living soul, so on the first day He created the universe in His own image, infusing it with light. This was light as a concept, an element, which science describes as “electromagnetic radiation occurring in various wavelengths.” On the fourth day God took this concept of light and put it into action in particular bearers of light, which in turn filled the universe with illumination. These are in two categories: 1) Active light-radiators: fiery balls of burning gases that are the stars, including our own sun; and 2) Passive light-reflectors: cold masses, like the planets and their moons, which reflect the light from the light-givers. This little science lesson has a powerful spiritual application. The Bible says God is light, but when it speaks of Jesus, the Son of God, He is never presented as a mere reflector of God’s light. He is the SON, to be sure, but in Malachi 4:2 He is called the SUN: "But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.” Jesus is the second person of the trinity, and as such, along with the Holy Spirit, is all that the Father is in His essence. As God is light, so Christ could say, “I am the Light of the world. He who lives in Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). If God (Jesus) is the Sun, we are His moons, for He also calls us “the light of the world.” We are lesser lights whose glory it is to reflect His glory to a world so dark and dismal, so empty of anything truly substantial, certainly nothing eternal. Our job description is clear (as seen on a church bulletin board): “To live in such a way that those who know us but don’t know God will come to know God because they know us.” How do we destroy the darkness? Just turn on (reflect) the light of the Sun of Righteousness. God is LIGHT: let Him radiate; we are His lights: just keep reflecting!