The light of God shines and illuminates the darkness and everything in it. Darkness cannot overcome the light, but light overcomes darkness.
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."(John 1:5 ESV).
How brilliant is that, in how light makes darkness escape into the unknown. It takes what is hiding or running away from God whether purposely or not. The light of God makes us take a step back to look at what is being exposed in the light.
See God has this way of seeing through the fluff or the fake surface things we try to pass off as fine or whatever it may be to just get through the day. The thing is God has this way of seeing past the surface level of things to see what is in our hearts.
God reveals what is hidden inside of us to unveil the calling He has put on our lives. He also exposes the sin in our lives to point us back to His love to free us from sin.
The reason I make both of these statements is that sometimes we are afraid to step into the calling God has called us to out to do, out of fear, shame, or guilt. But also, God exposes the sin in our lives by illuminating what is hiding in the dark. By getting us to recognize the sin to turn away from it.
For instance, sometimes the sin in our lives is holding us back from truly stepping into the callings on our lives. Although it can also be, the fear, shame or guilt has us paralyzed in a stuck position of fear. To get out of the stuck position of fear, we need God's light to shine in the darkness to find what is hiding in the darkness.
See the funny thing about sin is it likes to hide in the dark just like how we hide in the dark out of fear afraid to do anything new that God has put on our hearts.
Whereas, God reveals what is hidden and hiding in the dark by casting light onto those things. With His everlasting truth that never fades or folds under pressure.
One of the important things we need to remember about God is His character never changes but is always consistent. This is a good thing because we can rely on God to not only give us what we need. He will give us blessings too.
However, we must not hide or run away from the good things that God has for us. Even if it looks scary or uncertain. It is known and certain by God.
Take for instance if we suppress the truth and ignore what God is trying to speak to us or show us we will stumble in our unrighteousness. Yet, if we humble ourselves and admit our wrongs to align with God then the truth will not be suppressed but instead will be revealed and known.
Another example is when we have those deep hidden places within our hearts that we do not want God to clean out or bring to light but keep under wraps because we do not want to deal with it yet.
Although what we do not realize is when we let God bring it to light we gain freedom from it. And we gain peace because God fills the empty spaces with His unfailing love.
The thing is when God fills the empty spaces His truth and love change us for the better through the work of the Holy Spirit and the process of sanctification. The point is when God does a work in us we are changed for the better and set apart to belong to Jesus Christ.
Thus, when God shines His light on the darkness that is in us, it will be removed because His light and truth overtake the darkness. I realize this may sound funny or strange to grasp at first.
But stay with me here on this. If you reflect and look back at the verse that I shared from chapter one of the gospel of John you will see that darkness cannot overtake the light.
However, the light always overthrows the darkness because it is brighter. The light of God cannot be shaken or overthrown. His light is constant and always good. It is His light and truth that reveals what is hidden that needs to be brought to light.
For example one of the things that God brought out of the hidden places within my heart was the deep insecurity of not being enough or good enough for other people. I have struggled with this insecurity for a long time and in all honesty, sometimes this insecurity creeps back into my mind.
Although what helps me the most is taking this insecurity to the throne of God so He can reveal the hidden places it has been hiding behind to gain more freedom in the truth of God. See insecurity has this thing where it creeps in when you least expect it. Or it creeps in when you think you've overcome it for the last time.
Moreover, insecurity is not a one-time thing you get over which I am sad to say. It is a process to break free from. The only way to break free from it is through Jesus Christ and His unfailing love. So we need to take our insecurities before God and talk to Him about why we are insecure about something to get to the root of the insecurity.
If the root of insecurity is not found then it will be harder to break the chain of that insecurity. It is like finding the weak link in a chain to find the root of the problem. It is figuring out what makes you feel insecure and why.
The source and root will reveal what the trigger of the insecurity is. So that God can peel back the layers of the insecurity to replace it with His secure love that casts out fear, insecurity, guilt, shame, condemnation.
It truly amazes me how God can see past the fluff of my insecurities to see what is hidden inside of my heart. This just astounds me how God can illuminate and shine His light to see past the surface-level things to what is underneath in the empty places of our hearts including mine.
Thus, what God has shown me is to see myself in more of His image instead of the insecurity that I was stuck in. God also helped me see that I am made good in His image that He does not see me through the eyes of sin. But through the eyes of Jesus Christ who has taken away my sin and insecurity.
The point is my insecurity does not define me. I am good enough through the redeeming work of Christ. I am made new and a new creation in Christ. Just like you are made new in Christ and a new creation. We do not have to be labeled with our mistakes or our insecurities.
We are redeemed and redefined in Christ Jesus! We are called to belong to Christ and set apart to show the world the power of the gospel and how it can reshape our lives for good.
Jesus takes my insecurity away and He can take yours away if you let Him. The power of God's love and truth, light can rebuild your empty spaces within your heart if you're ready to let Him in.
References:
English Standard Version Study Bible (2008) Crossway Publishing, Wheaton ILL,
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