I Saw The Light!

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD shines over you.  For look, darkness covers the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the LORD will shine over you, and His glory will appear over you"  (Isaiah 60:1-2, HCSB).  

"'This, then, is the judgment:  The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19, HCSB).

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16, NIV).

"If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But 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, purifies us from all sin"  (1 John 1:6-7).   

Once you've seen the light, your life is transformed not just reformed.  Darkness is expelled by the presence of light, which is its enemy.  They cannot dwell together in the same space.  God is light and in Him is no darkness! He created light and separated it from the darkness. No one has an excuse: God gives light to all, for in Jesus we all can see the light if we look for it; however, He gives us only enough to see where we are to go.  There is enough to see for the willing and enough darkness for the unwilling to reject the light.  We must be willing to come to the light and hate the darkness!  In God's economy, known as the divine order of reality, enlightenment comes from Light!  

If we are to become enlightened by the Word, we ought to seek the Source, the Holy Spirit, who illuminates the eyes of our hearts. We are to be lights in a dark-infested world that is Satan's domain and turf.  We are to let our light shine in the darkness and influence it for the good.  The M.O. of finding the light and being enlightened is via the Bible and preaching of it; the day will dawn and the morning star will shine in our hearts (cf. 2 Pet. 1:19).

The problem with evil men is that they love darkness rather than light and will not come to it lest their evil deeds become exposed (cf. John 3:19)!  Only those who see the light can pass it on to others and show them the Way.  The Bible shows us the real self, for what we are in reality, not painting a pretty picture but being blunt about the portrayal.  For Proverbs 20:27 "The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost thoughts." God made our hearts and knows the diagnosis as well as the cure and prognosis!

There is just enough light for anyone to see if they are willing and the Bible equates Truth with light, for Augustine said that all truth is God's truth (cf. 1 John 1:6)!   It is a sign of evil when men walk in darkness and this type of metaphoric language should hit home for us all, for we can all identify a time in our life without direction and guidance from the Divinity.  This is in contradistinction to Satan, the prince of darkness.  The fulfillment of our faith is to see Jesus: "Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus." "But we do see Jesus" as the ultimate "Beatific Vision" completed in glory  (cf. Heb. 2:9, NIV) for He is the very personification and manifestation of the Light.

CAVEAT:  THE GOAL OF OUR LIFE IS NOT "ENLIGHTENMENT" AS IS SOUGHT IN BUDDHISM BUDDHA MEANS "ENLIGHTENED ONE"), BUT SALVATION OF THE SOUL AND RESTORATION OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.   CHRISTIANITY IS A RELIGION OF SALVATION!  NB:  BUDDHA, SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA, DIDN'T BELIEVE IN GOD AND  SAID THAT IF HE DID EXIST, HE COULDN'T HELP YOU FIND ENLIGHTENMENT, YOU MUST FIND IT ON YOUR OWN!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Fixing Our Eyes On Jesus

"I pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened..." (Eph. 1:18, NIV).
"Open my eyes that I may see..." (Psalm 119:18, NIV).

The Greeks came to the disciples inquiring:  But we would see Jesus!  It's not a matter of having some religious or spiritual encounter that lets you behold Christ clearly and meaningfully, but a life of obedience, not ecstasy, vision, or experience!  Remember what Jesus told Thomas:  Blessed are those who haven't seen!  The point is that Jesus opens the eyes of the blind.  But Christians all have the ability to see Christ at work in the world, the church, their brethren, and even themselves if they persist in growing in the faith. It is vital to know that Satan will trip us up with a temptation to test us at our weak points and vulnerabilities.  And we must realize that he is like a devouring lion, seeking whom he may devour (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8)!

As Christians with the Spirit within, we have an advantage over those who actually did see Jesus in the flesh and may have become biased, calloused, or blinded to the Spirit.  We don't have to go to and fro seeking Jesus' teaching and presence but have the power at work within--which is a much greater blessing and comfort.  We are exhorted to walk by faith and not by sight, and if we do we'll see Christ by faith!  To be a person who thinks clearly with our thinking straightened out, we must see (Christ) clearly (i.e., by faith).  As the Christian sees Jesus from page to page throughout the Bible like a scarlet thread of His theme in action, that the whole of Scripture is about Him.

Peter walked on water as long as he kept his focus on Jesus, but the second he was overcome with the situation at hand and got his eyes off Jesus he began to sink.  Suddenly he realized he needed the intervention of his Savior and uttered the simple words of salvation:  Lord, save me!  We all need to realize that we are in over our head in this life and need Jesus in order to cope with the mundane.  The distracted mind is no fertile territory for the seed of the Word of God to germinate.

It has been said that the faith the grain of a mustard seed can move mountains; likewise, we can have faith to move mountains in Christ, figuratively speaking.  William Carey said that we ought to "Expect Great Things from God; Attempt Great Things for God!'   It's not how big our faith, in other words, but the size of our God, who can work the impossible on our behalf.  The clearer our perception of Jesus, the closer we can walk with the Lord and be of benefit to the kingdom.  Too often the cares of this world smother our spiritual life and we lose focus from keeping the main thing the main thing.  We don't want to major on minors, or become legalists!  Each of us has a part to do in the Great Commission and can learn from each other doing their part.

The more we learn of Jesus and see Him spiritually at work, the more proficient we are at accomplishing His work.  The Great Commission will one day be the Great Completion (by the corporate body of Christ working in unity).  Yes, they say that we can walk on water if we have faith, or that someone has the faith to walk on water.  This applies to everyone and not just to a spiritual elite, for there is no room for a class system in Christ--we are all one in Christ.

I read a book once called The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey that was just a description of the Bible's doctrine of Christ.  The point:  one can never adequately describe Jesus, but you can know Him personally!  And we must learn to focus on Christ in the mundane and everyday and down to earth, not just in a book.  Each of us is a gospel in shoe leather and has a story to tell or a gift to give.  We don't want Jesus to be just in our head or what's called story faith or head knowledge but have first-hand experience one-on-one with our Lord that we have something to share and pass along to others of our encounter with the Lord. 

We are to walk hand in hand with our Lord through all the ups and downs, through thick and thin, to realize the presence of our Lord and being able to see Him more clearly, know Him more clearly, to follow Him more nearly, and to love Him more dearly  (cf. Richard of Chichester).  If a brother needs a book to know Jesus, he's missed the boat!  Jesus is as close as the mention of His name!  However, the temptation is to get enamored with the intellectual aspect of the faith and not to apply what we know.  And the Bible wasn't written to describe Jesus, but to make Him known.

Our faith is not a creed to believe or even song to sing, but a relationship and person to know in the here and now with vibrations throughout eternity.  We don't need to get informed, but transformed, and to know our Lord, if we are to walk with Him.  We get to know the Spirit at work in our hearts and grow in the faith as we increase in our experiential knowledge of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  "But we do see Jesus..." (cf. Heb. 2:9). God is with us through the indwelling Spirit.  The disciples longed to see the Father, thinking it would suffice, but Jesus reassured them He is all they need.

We are not boasting of visions and dreams or visitations, but we see Christ at work in the world in the here and now through each other.  Do you see just evil in the world, or do you see the good overcoming evil?  Paul said that it was "Christ in you, the hope of glory..." (cf. Col. 1:27), meaning that we live an inhabited life, not just an imitating one.  Our walk is a substituted, transforming, relinquished, and surrendered one--"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me..." (cf. Gal. 2:20).

We ought to be so preoccupied with our Lord in all we do that he is the center of our life and our treasure is in Him that it shows to the point of being a testimony and a light in the dark if we are Jesus freaks or fanatics to some or even "out of our mind"  (cf. 2 Cor. 5:13) it's for Christ's sake, that would be a compliment, as long as we don't live in ignorance of sound doctrine, having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (cf. Rom. 10:2, Prov. 19:2)   Colossians 3:2, NIV, says: "For you died., and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."

We are the hands to do Christ's work, the heart to show Christ's love, and the voices through which Christ speaks to a lost world that doesn't realize He's for real and works in us. We shouldn't be saying that we see the devil at work in the world and ask "why?" but Jesus at work through the church and ask "why not?"   As the hymn by William Cowper goes:  "God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform."(Cf. Isa. 45:15, NLT).  

The faith we have is the faith we show--we must learn to become contagious Christians because of our fixation on the Lord, though we are not fanatics who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, because the clearer our vision of Christ, the more useful in the mission to the world and ministry in the church, as it becomes obvious that we have been in the presence of Jesus!

Bear in mind that to see Jesus with our physical eyes may not do any good spiritually, we must behold him with our spiritual eyes and not only with our intellect but with our whole heart.  We need a real-life personal encounter with God that will change us from the inside out so that we can walk with Christ through faith.  To see Jesus is to know Him and to know Him is to love Him.

In sum, let's follow on to know the Lord (cf. Hos. 6:3) as Richard of Chichester said, "To know Him more clearly, to follow Him more nearly, to love Him more dearly."

CAVEAT:  TO THE PERSON WHO DOES NOT SEE, HE SHOULD ASK HIMSELF: WHERE IS HIS HEART?    Jesus Himself said that the person who is really blind is the person who thinks he sees and doesn't.      Soli Deo Gloria!

Stewards Of The Mysteries Of God

"This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy"  (1 Cor. 4:1-2, ESV).

God has revealed to us believers a quota or portion of divine truth to be used for His glory, and in His name.  We are all stewards of it and will give account for what has been revealed to us--we are not judging God's truth, but it is judging us!  If we have come up with some strange idea or a truth no one else realizes, it is not of God. Remember what Jesus said:  "To whom much is given, much is required."  We are never to make light of the revelations and insights God has granted us by grace. Truth with a capital T can be ascertained and we are in the Great Quest to find it and apply it to our lives the best we know; for to know the right thing or duty to do and be remiss or derelict in it is sinful.  Jesus said, that we shall know the truth (which is in Jesus per Eph. 4:21) and it shall set us free per John 8:32.

God only reveals mysteries to us so that they may benefit the body as a whole, not to give us inflated egos or that we might become conceited or arrogant, even condescending in our fellowships and relationships.  When we pass along the truths God has revealed to us, He grants more and illumines us to a higher degree.  Illumination is not salvation, but we grow in illumination and enlightenment as we mature in Christ--sharing in the mind of Christ Himself.  The complete mind of Christ is manifest in Scripture for us to study for all eternity since we are incapable in our finite mind to apprehend the infinite mind of God.  His mind is called the Ultimate mind, and this means there is more to the cosmos than matter and energy--there are spirit and mind, or what we might term the Logos, as Jesus is called in John 1:1.

No man has a monopoly on knowledge of the truth and is an island or rock in himself, but must learn from the body of Christ, as all share gifts for the benefit of the body.  To be a spiritual Lone Ranger (one who doesn't submit to any authority other than himself or is unbowed), or a spiritual lone wolf is in danger of going astray and doing his own thing, which is another name for sin per Isaiah 53:6 (ESV), which says, "All we like sheep have gone astray...."  People who are not sheep, or have no shepherd guiding them, are like goats in Jesus' analogy and goats do not act like sheep, who are helpless, but can fend for themselves.

If a Christian thinks he's a shepherd and not a sheep, he must be a sheep first, and he never really stops being a sheep, even though he's a shepherd; He can tell if he's a shepherd by seeing if anyone is following him or if he exhibits leadership ability. If he thinks people should listen to him, he should see if they do first!

In summation, the student is not above his teacher, according to the Word, and God is judging how good and faithful of a student one is, as well as how good and faithful a teacher the shepherd is--whether he teaches the truth and practices what he teaches, that is.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Blinded By The Light

God is light and those who deny Him live in darkness or chaos without His guidance.  The Word exhorts us to "walk in the light, even as He is in the light."  The Word itself is a "light to our path and a lamp to our feet." Isaiah 9 talks of those who dwell in darkness seeing a great light (Matt. 4:16a, ESV).  The blind man testified: "This one thing I know, I was blind, but now I see."


You may not recall the precise moment your eyes were opened, but cannot deny that they are opened now and that you see: "Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God."  If you reject the light you have you will suffer darkness, not more light.  If you are responsive to the light given you will be given more light--this is God's economy.  Saying, "I see the light" is a great testimony.

People have wondered why they can't see God, who is invisible but dwells in great light that we cannot behold.  Try looking into the sun;  if you say it would blind you, then realize that you would be destroyed by looking into the source of all light, God Himself is light and no darkness dwells with Him--neither does He cast a shadow.  Do you see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ?  We are to be lights in the world and let our lights shine so that men will see them and give glory to God: "Let your light so shine before men..." (cf. Matt. 5:16). Jesus said in Matt. 5:14 that we are the light of the world--don't put your light under a basket where no one can behold its glory!

Isaiah 60:1 (ESV) says: "Arise, shine, for your light has come...."  God saves us to be a blessing (cf. Zech. 8:13) and to bring Him glory by reflecting Jesus or being the icons of God (cf. Isaiah 43:7). We are created for God's glory according to The Westminster Shorter Catechism:  "The chief end of man  is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."  We must be faithful to the light we have and bring forth fruit worthy of our calling to enjoy more light--when you pass along insights from God, you are given more insight.  Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind so they can see the light (he's not necessarily talking about healing blind men), but the one in the worst state is he who thinks he sees the light but is blind.  The song "Blinded By The Light" is relevant because we cannot behold God until we are in a glorified and holy state and if we saw Him now we would be rendered blind--to close for comfort!

God said in the beginning, "Let there be light" and the light and darkness were severed permanently. God is the source of light and created it so we can see and it was good;  we are to do likewise and shed light on the subject so others can see the light through our works that speak for themselves and bear witness of the light.  Soli Deo Gloria!