Light of Life
There is nothing more disorienting than walking out of the bathroom at night and trying to make it back to bed before your eyes have adjusted. Your mind is hyper aware yet totally unaware. I feel around chaotically for the door knob to the bedroom. I shuffle slowly, rubbing my feet on the carpet to find the known obstacles - hamper, shape of the foot board, and my CPAP hose likely strung about.
It’s amazing to me how the small LED on my headphone charger often lights the way. Yet, I can’t see anything in the morning unless the table lamp is on.
It was after one of those mornings I spent some time thinking about that little LED light. I stuffed the thought into my brain’s pocket and moved on with my day. That evening I went to youth group. The lesson was about Jesus walking beside the men on the road to Emmaus. The video had a dramatized version of their conversation in which one of the disciples shared with Jesus about how God created the world. And he began with “God created the light.” As he continued, he related that light from Day 1 to the Light Jesus called himself. And that thought about the LED light came out of my pocket (and promptly to a running Word Document of blog ideas - again pocketed for a later date).
That image hasn’t left my mind. It’s gone from a small note on my document into a spreadsheet of Scripture. What once was a thought of “why God made the light first” turned into “why do we even need light anyway?”
And so began the Scriptural and scientific research of light (Light). And as I did so, I found three recurring themes about light - be it natural, artificial, or Spiritual
1 - Light provides visibility
As one of the youngest members of the leadership team, I get mentored a lot in our Monday meetings. Most things are about practical everyday life. The hot button topic is the length at which you cut your grass - 3-¼” is the exact measurement that seems to be the “perfect length.” But I also learn about things like the best restaurants in the area. Often, though, you have to be careful because “the lighting wasn’t good so my wife had to read the menu to me.”
I often come home laughing to tell Jacob. But then, at 9pm every evening my living room lights are set to dim. If I’m not already cozied in to read, the book becomes very hard to discern and I have to turn on the “big light.”
The point is, light is generally needed to be able to see.
When I think about “why” light was created first, it was simply that. It was the general ability to see - both physically and spiritually. We see it in the Creation story here:
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:3-4 (NIV)
We see the simple delineation of light and dark. And when He does it, isn’t it interesting that only the light was deemed good?
We see light again become the symbol for good as the Magi come looking for the king of the Jews - Jesus, who is later called Light (see Matthew 2). Matthew actually says the star evoked a feeling of “overjoyed.” So much good, it couldn’t be contained.
The true Light allows us to see. But He allows us to really see - to see the goodness around us, to see Him moving, to see Him in others.
The word namaste translates to “I see the light in you that I see in myself.” I have namaste in Sanskrit on my wrist as a subliminal message to those I shake hands with, hug, or give a high five to that “I see the Light in you that I see in myself”. An acknowledgement that we are all made in the image of Light.
2 - Light is a source of energy
One time my Grandma was taking me to her house and we passed a lot of fields. At one point we passed a field with all these sunflowers. If you aren’t familiar, sunflowers will point towards the sun with the face of the plant, then fall down at the end of the day. Well it was that time of day, and I exclaimed from the backseat “Grandma, all those sunflowers are praying!”
Light is an amazing source of energy. There is the obvious need for some Vitamin D from the sun - both from us and for plants. And like plants, with the help of the Son we bear fruit.
Paul reminds the church of Ephesus of this:
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)...
Ephesians 5:8-9 (NIV)
But lighting can set the energy of a space too. Think about a concert - lights up the full way and people tend to be talking and telling stories. The second those lights dim the conversations stop and the cheers begin. Some amazing lights I’ve seen are with For King & Country. They use light to tell their story, invoke emotions, and to, at times, take the spotlight off themselves and up to God.
There are people whose ministry is lighting design. Think about it next time in worship. The lighting designer is using lime green lights during “Nothing but the Blood.” They are using red to represent the blood or purple to show His royalty.
Jesus challenges the crowd on the Sermon on the Mount about this - what sort of light are you? Or what energy are you giving off? (see Matthew 5:16)
See if we are Children of the Light as Paul calls us, then we need to let that Light shine for us but also through us. It’s not a light that I put my lamp shade on or a lens to change the color to the way I want it to look. No, you have to shine the Light in its true fashion.
We aren’t going to do it perfectly every time, but I know there is grace in the journey. I experienced this recently. A friend I love dearly (who doesn’t know Jesus) went through a tough time. I sent flowers from Jacob and I and I stared at the message space on the website for an hour. What words do you say? How do I show Jesus in this time without shoving it down her throat? I had to balance this unfiltered Light with grace and discernment.
One last thought on the energy of Light: winter blues. Seasonal depression is real y’all. Sometimes I don’t even know it until the daffodils push through the soil and I’m like “I feel so happy.” It’s then I realize how sad I’ve been.
I’ve shared some “good vibes” type energy with light but what about the rest?
We see God use light to set the mood upon Jesus’ death (see Mark 15:33-41). The world went dark when He died. Saturday in the Easter story is so purposeful. Friday got dark upon His death and Saturday those who loved Him felt those winter blues. See we don’t know light without darkness. We have to experience darkness to understand the light.
The daffodils have that spring effect on us because we’ve experienced the winter.
3 - Light is the center of the universe
When we view this scientifically, we can think of the sun. The sun is the center of our solar system. All the planets and their moons revolve around it. It has a gravitational pull that keeps all the planets in line (even Pluto - whether or not it’s a planet today, I do not know). The sun itself is the reason Earth is habitable at all.
John, the beloved disciple, talked about Jesus in this same way. He starts the book of John with this:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
Jesus, the Word, is at the center of it all. He is why we even exist. Only through Him there is Life. The Son is starting to sound like the sun.
It is John, again, who records these words of Jesus:
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
And there it is - Jesus confirming he is the Light. The Son is like the sun (and more).
He is the center of our universe.
He is the gravitation pull that keeps us all together (see Colossians 1:17).
He is the reason we have life, life, and more life.
Light provides visibility - Jesus is the lamp unto our feet (see Psalm 119:105)
Light is a source of energy - Jesus calls us to be children of the Light (see Ephesians 5)
Light is the center of the universe - Jesus is the center of the universe (see John 1)
So it begs us to go back to the initial question - why was light created first?
I believe God created light first so that we would know from Day 1 what it was all about - the Light of Life.
