John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
When reading my devotional Monday morning, I was struck by an example the author shared. He said, “If you turn a flashlight on and cup your hand over the top, you can still see the light through the creases of your fingers. It’s as if the light is fighting to get through. God’s love is like that.”
I probably interpreted those words a little differently than he intended. He went on to say:
“In those moments it is difficult to understand why hard things are happening, even though you try to cover it up, God doesn’t turn off the light of his love. He uses every opportunity to pursue you. He will use other people to shine love over you through their actions and words.”
When I thought about the illustration of the flashlight, I thought about how sin creeps into our lives and we believe our light is not shining and we get frustrated with ourselves. Yet God knows our humanity and He is able to shine through us even in our dark times. We don’t shine nearly as brightly, but I believe in God’s omnipotence, He can use us to share the light. We must not get discouraged.
When we are not at our brightest, God doesn’t give up on us. Yet, if we are to shine our brightest, we must remove the hand of sin over our light and make the choices (as Don said Sunday) that are going to help us be the light that brings hope and love to those around us.
Shine, Shine, Shine!
Tina