A vacuuming lesson

Do you think God wants to judge anyone 'guilty' as they stand before him? If you know anything about scripture, you will know it is quite the opposite - for God "did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) God's greatest joy is to receive us each into his great big family through the work of his Son, Jesus. If we desire to be free of guilt, we only need ask for that gift!

The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. All who do evil hate the light and will not come to the light, because it will show all the evil things they do. But those who follow the true way come to the light, and it shows that the things they do were done through God.” (John 3:19-21)

When we ask for light, we receive it and so much more. Grace comes in waves upon waves. Aren't you glad that grace is limitless? How is it that grace begins to do more than just remove our 'guilt' and 'shame'? Grace brings a new way of living - a new way of making choices - not for us, but according to God's will. How does God change our life from dark to light? By giving us the light that never goes out - the light that illuminates every area of our life, making it impossible to bury any of our guilt or shame any longer.

Grace has a way of digging up our guilt, bringing it to the surface so the light can finally take it away. As I was vacuuming this morning, I found if I kept the lights off in the room, using the very bright light on the vacuum to illuminate the path of the vacuum, I saw all the pieces of dirt that had been hidden with the other light on in the room. It took getting light close to the 'dirt' to actually expose it! Sometimes we may not feel all that comfortable having light shown into our 'darkest spots', but if we want to actually be rid of the 'dirt' once and for all, we may have to let God's light get closer to those areas than we might like!

Darkness, or even a dim light, has a way of concealing much that really needs to be dealt with, but remains a bit too well hidden. We might feel more comfortable with the dim light, but God wants us to have the brightest light possible - his Son! That way we will be able to be rid of the dirt that just serves to muck up our lives. Just sayin!