But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: I have always taken this verse to refer to the way in which Jesus can redeem my past. I have gone through a lot in my short life which I am not proud of and that only Jesus' blood can wash away. The glorious news which truly is the shining light in my life is that He has washed me as white as snow and both forgiven my past and written my future.
The cool thing about Jesus is that every blemish and pothole in my life along the way has not just been forgiven and forgotten. It is still my life and He has totally transformed it; when His light filled my life, it filled my past too. It turned my every mistake and misstep from a scarlet stain to a testimony. I no longer need to be ashamed of it, but can know that in telling it I am giving Him glory. Every time I think of where He has taken me from, I can only be amazed by His love and forgiveness. Sharing that amazing story with others turns things that I used to be ashamed of into examples of His greatness. Int his way, everything in me exposed by His light has become a light. This is not just true to my story, but to everyone's that has Jesus living inside of them. It is our privilege to be carriers of this light and to let the lights of our own transformations be known. I could go on and on about how much I love Jesus's transformative power that is expressed by this verse, but I think God likes to switch things up on us sometimes. As I was reading through Ephesians today, I was touched in a different way by this verse. The second half illuminated it in a new way for me. "This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”" In it I saw that Paul's focus is not on my past, but on myself. Not me, personally, but me as a "sleeper." When I did rise from the death of my sin without Christ, Jesus shone His light on and in me, illuminating my past as well as who He has made me to be. He has made me a light for His kingdom. My past is now a light, and so is my future. I don't know exactly where He's taking me or what I'll end up doing, but I know I've surrendered everything to Him and that He has not taken that lightly. He is faithful to complete the work He has started in me and that includes the way He has promised that my life will be fruitful as long as I walk in the path He has laid out for me and let the gifts He has given me shine. It's a relief and a wonderful reminder that my own transformation has very little to do with me. Not only that, but that He has placed His DNA inside of me and it will accomplish what He has set to do with me and my life.
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March 2023
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