Love the Light
Pictured is the hallway that leads out of my mudroom. If you look closely at this photo, you will see a path left behind from a special certain someone’s dirty farm boots.
I walked over the prints several times before noticing them because on this particular morning the sky was dark and cloudy from rain that had passed and the hallway was dark. The dark sky had filtered the floor and kept the prints hidden out of my sight. It was only when the sun broke through the clouds and the light shined in the window were the muddy prints exposed. It was only in the light that I could see the prints.
It reminded me of John 3: 19-21 where Jesus said, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
The truth is that the light helps us see and it always exposes. And just like how the light shined through the window and exposed the dirty prints on my floor, the light of God shines in us and exposes the dirt hidden on the inside that makes us unclean and impure in his sight. God wants us to be clean and pure like his son Jesus, so he exposes our dirt so that we can work with him on cleaning it up. The cleaner we are on the inside the closer we grow to God. The closer we are to God the more we become like Him. The more we become like Him, the closer we are to our true self and the less we have to filter and hide. God wants to remove all the dirt and darkness that blocks and filters your view of the beautiful life he created just for you. He wants to expose the real you to the world so that his light will shine through you purely and unfiltered so others will see him.
God shines his light of life on you because he loves you, however, Jesus teaches us that despite hearing and knowing about the love of God some people prefer to remain living in darkness. They don’t want to see their dirt because they love their ways and don’t see anything wrong with what they do or what’s inside of them. Jesus said some people are afraid to see their filth. And I’ll admit, it’s hard to see the truth and it doesn’t always feel good. It did not feel good when I saw the dirty prints on the floor. I don’t love cleaning floors, however, I do love how it feels when the cleaning is done. And in the same way, there is no greater feeling than allowing God to cleanse you and set you free from the dirt of your past. It’s then you can work in agreement with God on how to stay clean and try your best not to dirty up those floors again. However, because of our sinful nature, it’s pretty much guaranteed those floors will get dirty again but God is always there with his loving kindness and good grace to help you clean it up.
God sent his light in the world when he gave us his son Jesus. Jesus 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).” It’s when you make a commitment to follow Jesus that God is able to shine his heavenly light in you to show you the way to live a clean and healthy life with him! Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).
Bottom line: God helps us see our dirt and helps us clean it up because he loves us and because he wants us to live in the freedom found only through his son Jesus Christ, the light of the world.
Wynter Kettlewell 