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!

Toward the Sunrise

This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is. (John 3:20-21)

A crisis is a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined - some call this a turning point. It can represent a condition of instability or danger, leading to a decisive change - not always for the best. Equally so, it can represent one of those events where there is a lot of dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person's life - leaving one to sort out the pieces when all is said and done. When a person is not interested in pleasing God, their entire life may seem like one crisis right after another - barely bailing out of one and stepping into another. Darkness is like that - you stumble around a lot, not sure of where you are going, and doing a pretty poor job of avoiding all the obstacles in your path.

We can observe all manner of folk around us who are 'addicted to denial and illusion' - believing whatever the 'fad of the day' is at the moment. Their illusions are fed by the media - their denial is spurred on by all manner of imaginary belief formed on nothing more than opinion. They could be what some refer to as 'naysayers' - never having a good word to say about anything. It is quite possible they are well enough educated, just 'dumb' where it comes to the things we call 'spiritual'. They need to understand, or they will not believe, but spiritual things are not always easily understood. What a way to go through life! I don't want to see the dark side of things, much less experience them! I want the light to show me how to live, where my thoughts aren't quite right, and what choices I should make. I don't want to live from one crisis to another - how about you?

When you reject light, you are left 'running for the darkness'. I do just the opposite - I run for the light, fleeing the darkness whenever I can. I like to walk early in the morning as the sun is coming up, but as the fall and winter season is upon us, the sunrise comes a wee bit later each new day. That means I may start my walk in a bit of darkness, but I head toward the sunrise so the light will be upon me, leading my steps as I go. It is like that when we say 'yes' to Jesus - we leave darkness behind and begin to walk into the light. We begin to see our path illuminated by that 'spiritual light' and as we take each step, it is more certain, solid, and taken with conviction. If I ever take a step that is without conviction, I usually know it is away from the light, not toward it! Just sayin!

God uses opposites

Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people, Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil. (Psalm 97:11)

Seeds are unique to the type of plant from which they come and their purpose is to bring forth growth that is the same as the plant from which they came. You cannot expect to obtain passion fruit from a grapefruit seed, nor grapefruit from a grape seed. To expect something other than what you plant is just plain silly. You might have planted some 'bad seed' and then hoped for a better outcome than what you planted, but that just isn't logical. Maybe this is why God reminds us it is reasonable to expect to harvest what we plant, and we must plant in order to harvest. The one planting seeds is as significant as the seeds being planted - not to mention "where" the seeds are planted - because the outcome is based on both. If God is the planter of the seeds, the harvest is more likely to produce the type of growth which will edify and build us up. He takes great care in planting just the right seeds which will grow into exactly what we need in order to dispel darkness and to increase our joy. These two "seeds" really produce fruit beyond what we may realize at the first blush - probably because of where they are planted. It is in looking at where God does the planting that we find a little insight into the growth which is produced.

Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God's people. Thinking about the soul of man, we might think of the darkness which dwells there when God's light has not invaded the space within. Our souls are where we focus on the connection existing between God and man - the eternal part of our being which will dwell forever either in the presence of God or the fires of hell. The soul is often thought of as where we form our "morals" which guide our every decision. If our soul is shrouded with darkness, the choices we make may be less than "upright". The "morals" we form may be a little "tainted" by our viewpoint - dark places in our soul tend to yield dark actions. Our view (our morals) are made lighter by the seed planted by God's hand. Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil. Knowing the heart is the seat of emotion, isn't it awesome God plants "joy-seeds" there? He plants seeds of joy - bringing something to our hearts which all other seed will never quite be able to produce. Joy differs from happiness in that joy is lasting, where happiness is dependent upon the circumstances and the outcomes we experience in life. Joy is totally deep-seated, or shall I say "deep-seeded", buried deep within the heart. Joy is a result of "connection" - the connection of the soil of the heart with the roots of the seeds of JOY God plants deep within the heart. The heart holds both joy and grief. Isn't it truly a work of God to turn places of grief into places of the deepest growth - the seeds of joy producing great growth from within the soil of the grief we experience.

The absence of joy is grief. The opposite of light is darkness. The seeds God plants are exactly the opposite of the condition of the soil in which they are planted. The seeds are planted in the very type of soil where their growth will have the greatest impact. If you have ever seen a plant grow so big as to take over the area in which it was planted, I think this is probably what God has in mind when he plants the seeds of joy in the grief of our soul, or the seed of light into the darkest places of our emotions. We see scripture advising to not expect a harvest if there is never any planting going on. In giving God access to our souls, we are encouraging seeds of light to be planted. In giving him access to our emotions, we are encouraging seeds of joy to be planted. In turn, we can see the harvest they will produce. These are seeds which we cannot plant ourselves, but we can open up to the planting of our heavenly Father's hand. We attempt to plant all kinds of seeds ourselves, but they fall far short of the harvest God intends for our lives. Wouldn't it be wise to allow God to do the planting, in order to have the optimum harvest produced? Just askin!

Let's shed a little light on it

I don't know what God has planned for me or you or anyone, but I do know that in darkness, you discover an indistinguishable light. 

(Cory Booker)

There are seasons in our lives that we might call those 'dark' times when we just feel like the clouds are closing in around us emotionally, physically, and even spiritually. We cannot avoid them anymore than we can avoid the influx of clouds up in the sky. We could try to outrun them, but then would we ever truly appreciate the light that comes after the darkness passes? Would we ever truly begin to influence the darkness if we never let our inner light shine? 

The light of the right-living brings joy as it burns brightly; the lamp of a wrongdoer will be snuffed out. (Proverbs 13:9)

The light within burns brighter than any darkness we can experience - even those times of deeper emotional darkness when we think we might just become totally undone, destitute and alone. I am not ashamed to say I have stood squarely in the midst of emotional darkness on occasion, taunted on every side from unreasonable fear, haphazard thoughts raging as waves of doubts come crashing in over and over again. I am also not ashamed to admit that when the storms raged, the darkness set in with full force, and those fears and doubts assailed me from every side, there always came a glimmer of light that gave way to more and more until the darkness was totally gone.

When light begins to shine forth - even that first spark of light - there is something that becomes very evident about our darkness. We find that we have placed too much importance and focus on the things that so often taunted us and caused us fears in those dark places. We looked at the shadows cast by the light rather than the light! It is truly in darkness that we begin to see there is a very indistinguishable light God brings into our lives. I cannot overcome darkness alone - nor can you. We each need the light of God that shines in each of our lives - first a glimmer, then a fully revealed light.

What is your dark place today? Most will attempt to conceal that darkness from others simply because our pride keeps us from admitting we aren't as 'put together' as we'd like others to see us. The truth of the matter is that pride is keeping you from dispelling the things that cause you such concern in that dark place - shadows becoming more and more consuming as your darkness closes in upon you. The way to dispel darkness isn't to attempt to shut it out - but to bring light into that place! Each of us carries someone's spark of indistinguishable light - we just have to learn to let it shine brightly so it can begin to be seen through the darkness they face. Just sayin!

What evil lurks in them there shadows?

Every now and again, I will purposefully use 'bad grammar' just because I am trying to get a point
across - usually to show my genuine openness to an idea, or because I am just being a little silly. If you ever hear me tell my BFF that I just 'got schooled' in something, or 'learned me a new thing', it is just a way of letting her know I know something today I didn't know before. It may be seriously important information, or it could just be something that peaked my curiosity. I can be heard saying, "Hey, let's Google that", meaning that I want to understand the meaning of a word, figure out where something originated, or what something looks like. Yesterday, it was an herb used in traditional Mexican dishes, while a week ago it may have been why lady bugs are always called lady bugs and not man bugs! Being interested in learning is a very good thing, my friends, especially when the 'thing learned' helps us to grow stronger in Christ, more loving or caring in our actions, or to just plain 'grow up'.

Show me how you work, God; school me in your ways.Take me by the hand; lead me down the path of truth. (Psalm 25:4-5)

There is nothing that God delights in more than hearing his child ask than to be schooled in HIS ways. When I was in school, one of the things my teachers soon learned about me was that I was a visual learner - if I could see it, I grasped the truth much quicker than if it was something more ethereal. I am a "show me" kind of person - not that I always need to see it, but I make a different connection to it when I do. When I was a kid, I took things apart - just to see how they were made. I would dissect a flower to see the various "pieces" - learning that stem, petal, and leaf all had their own function, somehow fit together, and when together they formed a pretty amazing thing of beauty.

God NEVER turns away a person who comes to him with a "show me" or "school me" desire. In fact, he uses that for his glory. There are two different things we can ask God for, as our scripture points out - things that just delight him to no end. One is to be shown how God works - the other is to understand God's ways (his plans). When we understand God's plans, it may be easier to see how he works. When I took apart the flower, it was not because I wanted to destroy the flower. In fact, I wanted to understand how life was accomplished in that flower - how did it gain the nutrients it needed to grow. When we come to God with a heart open to understand what he plans for his children, we are also asking him to show us how it is that we will "grow into" those plans.

God's "ways" are those things that add discipline and order to our life - they create a framework for how we are to live, act, and react. His "work" is what gives our lives blessing and satisfaction - meaning and purpose. His ways add structure, while his work in our life brings revelation and reward. As God to "show" you and "school" you - it is by being "hand-led" down the path with God that we both are shown and schooled. I have found myself coming into a dark house at night, groping around in the darkness for a light switch, avoiding the sharp edges of end tables, seeing shadows and wondering if there was any evil lurking there. It is a little scary to "be in the dark" groping for the light, constantly unaware of what is there. God knows the facts about our spiritual, emotional, and thought life - both those we allow out into the light and those that are hidden away in darkness. We all have times when we are "groping around in the dark" hoping to find some "light" to give us direction in life. His delight is in being that light for us! When I am "hand-led" through dark places, I don't fear the "sharp edges" or even the potential evil lurking in the shadows! I know that someone who already knows the way has me in his hand. Just sayin!

Be a lighthouse

"The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights." (Giotto di Bondone) If you have ever sailed through a dark, dark night on the ever black expanse of the tossing seas, you know the value of seeing even the tiniest of lights beckoning you on in the right direction. It is like a glimmer of hope that you are neither sailing alone, nor are you lost forever in the storm tossed seas. Light has a way of beckoning us - while darkness attempts to envelope and engulf us. Light brings expanse into perspective - darkness allows us to imagine all manner of whatever it is we can make up in our minds about whatever it is we are experiencing. Some of the best light I have received was not read in scripture, nor was it given in an audible voice from heaven. It came in the form of a sincere friend just simply stating things as plainly as possible and leaving those words there to just have their effect on me. I can admit to almost getting way too familiar with the darkness around me, allowing it to begin to work on my imagination, and almost ready to engulf me forever, when the simple statement of a faithful companion delivered the very essence of light that beckoned me back into reality and helped steer my course back into seas of safety.

On another occasion, Jesus spoke to the crowds again. Jesus: I am the light that shines through the cosmos; if you walk with Me, you will thrive in the nourishing light that gives life and will not know darkness. (John 8:12 VOICE)

Yes, we are meant to thrive in the nourishing light that gives life - but way too often we get more than familiar with darkness. We come to know darkness - as though it would be the place we would dwell for a good, long time. If we have placed our trust and hope in the finished work of Christ in our lives, we cannot dwell long in the place of darkness without a glimmer of light beginning to beckon us on. Why? We aren't meant to dwell there - we aren't even meant to "know" darkness. It might toss our seas once in a while, but like the faithful friend of all times, the light of Christ will break into that darkness and begin to show us the futility of fearing the dark place.

Our minds see much in the darkness, not because we actually perceive those things, but because of memory. We can "recreate" what we cannot clearly see - it is like an automatic response to not seeing clearly. We make things up. This might be the greatest danger of the darkness that attempts to get our surrender - it plays upon the memories of our minds and allows the "creativity" of our imagination to carry us away into beliefs and fears we might not otherwise have considered in the rational place of light. Maybe this is why Jesus tells his hearers to always move toward the light - toward him - so that they won'd move from the rational place of light.

The darkness is never a place of rational thought - it depends upon a little imaginative "reconstruction" of what it is we remember or believe to be in our path. If you have ever stubbed your toe in the darkness of night, you know how much you believed yourself to have judged the path you were on correctly, making up that path in your mind's memory. Your stubbed toe shows you just how irrational your belief was - for that object in your way was not there in your imagined perception of the darkness! In the darkness, it is possible to perceive things closer than they are, bigger than they are in real life, or more "dangerous" to us than they would ever be in the clearness of midday. 

It has been said that when we bring light into a circumstance the darkness will flee all on its own. How true that is! Darkness has no way of remaining when all obstacles are revealed and opened before light's inspecting eye. We can be assured of this very thing - the seas may toss, the darkness may invade, but we don't have to rely upon what we imagine to get us through. The light is right there, beckoning us onward, outward, until we come into the safety of seeing clearly once again. We are not meant to know or dwell in dark places - so move toward that light. Just sayin!