People of Light
Light Verses Darkness – Part II
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:1-9
Key Verse: Ephesians 5: 8
For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So, live as people of light!
John’s Gospel reminds us:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5).
The New Living Translation puts the last part of this verse this way: “and darkness has not extinguished it”.
The darkness of this world has no power to extinguish the light of God’s Kingdom. It is like a dark room when someone suddenly lights a small candle. That candle wins every time because darkness does not have the power to overcome the light.
When we live as people of light, darkness has no power to overcome us! That is why Jesus said that believers are like a city on a hill that lights up the night. No one can hide that, no matter how dark it gets. The darker it gets the brighter light shines!
The challenge of today’s Key Verse is to live as People of Light. Jesus uses a lamp as an analogy:
“No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:15)
Why would people of light not let their light shine in a world so dark and needy? We want to shine bright, but sometimes do not understand how to make that happen. Ideas of what that looks like fills Ephesians chapter five. For example:
Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God”. (Ephesians 5:2)
Our light shines as we give compassion and love to those we meet and are willing to sacrifice our own comfort for them.
Ephesians 5:10 reminds us to “carefully determine what pleases the Lord”. In other words, before we speak or act, we are to carefully figure out if our words or actions will sound and look like Jesus.
Sometimes we allow ourselves to think that knowing how to please God is hard… it really is not! Simply be careful, slowing down our responses to the words and actions of others, making sure we respond like Jesus regardless of how people around us are acting. When we carefully do this for our family, friends, and co-workers, we will bless them with light, God’s light.
Ephesians 5:17 sums up these thoughts:
Don’t act thoughtlessly but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
I admit to you that I act thoughtlessly more than I want to. Join me in asking God’s Holy Spirit to remind us today to be more thoughtful about what we say and how we act! That is a prayer that God answers! Do not forget:
… you have light from the Lord, so live as people of light! (Ephesians 5:8b).
Father, please grant me the reminders of the Holy Spirit to slow my response when dealing with others around me. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.