Man The Lights Are Bright!

March 31

Read: Acts 25,26

Man the Lights Are Bright

“I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” - Jesus (Acts 26:17-18)

What is it that Jesus is doing for us as God’s people? What are we in desperate need of? The work of Christ in US is the work of “opening our eyes, so that we may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that we may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” We are in need of having our eyes opened so that we can realize that we are in the dark and see the light that we may move towards it. We are in need of being set free from the power of Satan. We need forgiveness of sins and to be set apart for the Lord. This is what Christ is doing in us and through us. This is what those around us need as well.

We can’t / won’t see our need for this apart from Christ awakening us. The default state of humanity is a state of blindness… we are all born “blind”. We start off in the dark because we cannot “see”. Once our eyes are open, we begin to take in what is proverbially around us… we can also for the first time “see the light”. Just seeing it is not enough, we need to “turn from darkness to light”… this means MOVING TOWARDS the light. What we see in Jesus’ words is that someone else has to "open our eyes”. This is one of the things that God uses us as his people for - we see it declared by Jesus here in Acts - we are in the business of helping people open their eyes! It is not always easy when you first open your eyes to look at the light if you have been in the dark for long. Our newly opened eyes need to adjust. Not only does God use his people to “open the eyes”of others, he also uses us to guide others towards the light… This means WALKING WITH THEM as they move out of the darkness into this new world of illumination.

The problem with living with closed eyes in the dark is more severe than we may first realize, because it is also living under the “power of Satan”. It is stings to acknowledge this - maybe even feeling harsh at times - but apart from Christ humans are under the power of Satan. This DOES NOT mean every human outside of Christ is demon possessed or “satanic”… but Christ makes it clear that Satan has a power over those whose eyes are closed and are living in the dark. Anytime we go into the “dark” places and “close our eyes” to Christ we are voluntarily coming back under that power. The flip side is shocking though: to have yours eyes opened is to be set free from Satan’s power and to - in fact - begin to function with the power of God. We become participants with God in the use of HIS power!

The end result: we “receive forgiveness” for those things done in the “dark” and are set apart with a purpose and a meaning. We are set free from Satan… set free from stumbling about in a dark cave… and are literally brought into the light… “enlightened”. Are you willing to be used by the Lord towards this end? Have you experienced this journey yourself? Do you feel in the dark? Who has God sent for you? How cool is that? You see, God intentionally sent Paul to the gentiles around him. Do you know that God has sent someone for you? He does not desire that you remain with your eyes closed and in the dark under the power of Satan without purpose and experiencing the death that comes with your sin ! Who has God sent for you? Who have you been sent for? Lord Jesus, open our eyes! Love you guys. - JDP