Bolstered inside and out

Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.” (John 8:12)

We might need to ask God to show us what has previously been hidden within us - cuz we have become experts at keeping stuff in the dark, haven't we? There is absolutely no reason for us to stumble around in the darkness - hiding all kinds of stuff we think others shouldn't know about us, or worse yet, trying to stuff things into little cubby-holes in order to keep Jesus from knowing about them. This means there is nothing hidden - all things are revealed. The world's light has come - there is no more hiding - NONE.

Perhaps this frightens us a bit - remembering we have all become pretty savvy at hiding stuff we don't want to admit exists in us, or that we don't want others to know about us. It is the stuff we don't want to admit exists in us that probably gives us the greatest sense of fear - exposure means we have become just a bit more vulnerable than we may be comfortable with right now. Yet, without this vulnerability that stuff just remains all 'clogged up' in the inner spaces of our minds and emotions. Clogs are no good - in the pipes in our walls, or inside of us!

Did you realize vulnerable really means we are accessible? Whenever light comes in, it makes things once hidden a bit more accessible. Most of us think of vulnerability as making us kind of defenseless and this is quite true. Maybe what we need more than the walls is to lower of our defenses a bit - so we allow access to those areas where we have 'stuffed' all our hurts, failures, fears, and trust issues. Rather than seeing all the negative sides of vulnerability, we should shift our focus to the positive - being accessible, ready, and unguarded. 

Light isn't meant to frighten us - it is meant to cleanse us. Light has a way of bolstering our immune system - making us less susceptible to infections. Maybe this is what God's light does within us - it makes us less susceptible to the things that are harmful to us and bolsters our 'immunity' to the attacks of our enemy! Just thinkin...