The theorem of light

We have all the light we need, we just need to put it in practice.

(Albert Pike)

“I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.” (Jesus)

(John 8:12)

Many folks go through life looking for the next great revelation, all the while possessing so much knowledge and using very little of it. I knew all kinds of stuff in school, but actually used about 1/10th of it in real life! Physics is a blur; trigonometry was likely a waste of my time; and calculus never got used even one time. Geometry helps me with some 'area' and 'angle' questions in my woodshop; algebra actually helped me when I calculated drug dosages; and biology helps me keep my garden growing. I still only use a tiny fraction of any of those subjects that I say did me some good to study. We can be 'knowledge-rich' and 'wisdom-poor' at times. We have 'light' and still we seek something to deal with the 'darkness'.

Christ expects us to use the light we have been given in him - the light of his presence dispelling all manner of darkness from our lives. We sometimes don't embrace light - choosing to stumble around in darkness in areas of our lives we have declared 'off-limits' to God. Guess what? God isn't going to let darkness win! We may want to be free of those 'dark areas' of our lives where we have made bad choices, settled for something we knew we didn't really want to embrace, or those moments of indiscretion that led us into greater moments until we felt like there was no escape. 

Am I able to recite even one of those theorems I learned in geometry class? Nope, but I know you can make a hexagon from wood if you cut at a 30-degree angle! I know Jesus wants to be engaged in my daily life, but do I always welcome his direction? Nope, but I trust him to keep me from drifting too far to the right or left with my independent decisions. His truth is light - like one of those theorems I learned in geometry - it can be trusted. If I know the theorem and never use it, is it valuable to me? Not really. If I use the theorem related to 'polygons', I can find the angle of the hexagon. If I use the Word of God by actually applying it to my life, I might not walk around with those dark areas any longer!

We only benefit from what we 'use' in our lives. We might have all other kinds of 'knowledge' we keep stored away somewhere, but when we incorporate the 'light of God's Word' into our lives in any area of our lives, it isn't 'wasted truth'. It is practical knowledge we find useful to us time and time again. Just sayin!

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...