See the Light. Be the Light.

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light (Eph 5:8).

Throughout the history of mankind, we’ve seen light as good and darkness as bad.  Not surprisingly, God has used light as a description for His grace, His goodness and the truth of who He is.  So it’s no shock when our buddy Paul flips on the light in his letter to Ephesus.  “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light” (v8).  Before we knew Jesus, we stumbled around in the dark.  After He “made us alive together  with Christ” (Eph 2:5), He brought us into His light.  As a result, we actually become His light.  So it’s time to get moving and get shining.

See the Light.  Be the Light.

The apostle loves to show us “before and after” pictures.  What we looked like before Jesus ambushed us.  What we look like after He saves us.  Here he reminds us that “at one time we were darkness” (v8).  We weren’t just IN darkness.  We WERE darkness!  We weren’t just in the dark.  We were the dark.  Before Christ revealed the truth of who He is to us, we were the problem.  Paul uses the Greek noun skotos, which means gloom or darkened sight due to the lack of light.  It often describes a lack of understanding or ignorance.  In a spiritual sense, that’s sin and evil.  Christ knew that His arrest under the cloak of night in Gethsemane was all heavily influenced by “the power of darkness” (Gr. skotos)” (Lk 22:53).  Later in this letter, the apostle writes about the spiritual battle that every one of Jesus’ followers needs to realize.  We’re in hand-to-hand combat “against the cosmic powers of this present darkness (Gr. skotos)” (Eph 6:12).  Satan works to keep folks in the dark.  Jesus and His followers are looking to shine the Light.

See the Light.  Be the Light.

Now Paul points to the “after” picture.  Look how bright things are!  “Now you are light in the Lord” (v8).  In the original language, we see the word phos or photos.  It’s where we get our words like photograph and phosphorus.  It’s brightness that shines.  Illumination.  Over and over again, we should shine the light on God and His goodness by using light.  His very first act of creation was to command light to bring order to chaos and darkness (Gen 1:3).  And that was good.  The opening lyrics of one of King David’s greatest hits declare that Yahweh is the very personification of brightness.  “The LORD is my light and my salvation” (Ps 27:1).  Isaiah predicted a day when folks who used to stumble around in the dark would see “a great light” (Is 9:2).  He went on to say that God would send His long-awaited Messiah to fulfill every promise and be “a light for the nations, to open eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Is 42:6-7).  Jesus didn’t mess around when showed up.  One of the very first things He said was that God sent Him on a divine mission to accomplish that very promise to be that light (Lk 4:18).  He even said that He was the very brilliance of God.  “I am the Light of the World” (Jn 9:5).  

Light allows us to see clearly.  God’s light allows us to see Him clearly.  That’s why Paul prayed that God would allow us to see His Son and have “the eyes of your hearts enlightened” (Eph 1:18).  When we place our trust in who Jesus is and what He’s done, we don’t just see His light.  “Now we are light in the Lord” (v8)!  That allows a dark world to see Him clearly.  Get walking in the light!

See the Light.  Be the Light.

And we see here yet one more example of Paul’s emphasis of believers being “in Christ.”  Over and over and over he hammers this nail in his letter to Ephesus.  Just check the various ways he mentions this idea in Eph 1.  “In Christ” (Eph 1:3, 9, 12).  “In Him” (Eph 1:4, 7, 10, 11, 13).  “In the Beloved” (Eph 1:6).  “In the Lord Jesus (Eph 1:16).  Here’s the big idea.  We don’t save ourselves.  We place our faith IN what Jesus has done for us that we could never, ever do.  He lived the perfect life that we completely failed to live.  He died the bloody death for our sin that we certainly should have died.  He rose to a spectacular new life that we absolutely don’t deserve.  When we trust IN what He’s done, we are “in the Lord” (v8).  When His heavenly Dad looks at me, He doesn’t see sinful me but His sinless Son because I am “in Christ.”  This is a mega-theme in Paul’s letter to Ephesus.  He knows that if we realize this reality, we’ll live a life in the light of God’s gracious Gospel.

Paul tells the Ephesians that now that they are the Lord’s light, to “walk as children of light” (v8).  Don’t just sit there.  Get moving!  As the old campfire song says, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!”  Jesus told His followers that we don’t fire up our lantern and then hide it under our box springs (Lk 8:16).  Once He shines His light on us, we’re “the light of the world,” shining brightly as the Vegas strip in the dark of desert night (Mt 5:14).  We do that by helping and loving others.  We let our light shine through our good works.  Not earning our salvation but showing it and shining it.  This gives our Father in heaven all the credit (Mt 5:16).

See the Light.  Be the Light.

This idea of “light walking” has an impact on us and those believers around us.  Jesus’ best buddy John said that walking the light of Christ is the best way to experience living in relationship with other believers.  “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1Jn 5:7).  So get out from underneath your bed and get walking.  Start walking in the light.  Shine!

See the Light!  Be the Light!

So, what do you think?  I would love to hear from you.  Drop a comment below and let's talk it over.