Did you see the incredible rescue of those trapped Chilean miners on the news last week? It was amazing that they had survived in that mine with very little food and water since August… That’s 69 days trapped in a black hole over two thousand feet below the surface… Longer than any humans have been trapped underground. Doctors were concerned about lots of health issues that these miners could have faced, but one of the main concerns was that after being in such darkness for so long, they could have developed some significant retina damage. So, before returning to the surface, each man had to wear specially selected $180 black iridium-lens sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sunlight and other harsh lighting. The very sunlight that they depend upon for life itself could now permanently blind them.
It got me to thinking. You know, we’ve grown very accustomed to stumbling our way around in this sin-darkened world that we live in. We are used to dealing with a lot of gray in our lives… Often dark, dark gray. We have clouded judgement and corrupted morality due to the influence of sin blocking the light from God. And before you go to thinking that it is just “our generation,” or the recent state of our nation… Don’t. This is an issue that has been around for a long, long time. It goes almost all the way back to creation.
What would it be like to suddenly have our spiritual darkness suddenly pierced by the pure light of God? How would that change us? How would we respond? Paul’s first letter to Timothy tells us:
“For at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him.”1 Timothy 6:16
So, his holiness is so bright that we in our sinfulness can’t go to him… BUT, isn’t it great to know that when we couldn’t get to him, he came to us? John 1 says that Jesus came to earth and “brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”
“I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”John 8:12
When we surrender our lives to him, HIS light enters us! He changes us from the inside out!
No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.1 John 4:12
So, I’m asking the question again… What if his light suddenly pierced our darkness? What would that do to us? Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus to show how it should affect them:
For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.Ephesians 5:8-9
Has the holiness of God impacted your life?