The other morning I had to be at church (where I work) for 7am.
At 6:30 I opened my eyes to get up, let my eyes adjust to the dark for a second, and looked at my mirror from bed. I realized and celebrated my hair looking fly as ever, and decided I could justify going back to sleep till 6:50 (I live 2 minutes from church). It was a glorious 20 minutes more of sleep.
When I actually got out of bed and attempted to get dressed for the day I left the lights off because it was real early and my eyes weren’t quite ready for that yet.
I then spent the next 7 minutes tearing my room apart for the pair of pants I wanted to wear, and since it was still dark out, and it was 6:57am and I still hadn’t found my pants, I figured I should turn the light on. I immediately found my pants exactly where I thought they were, I just couldn’t see them before because the lights were off.
It was 6:59, I was dressed, and I was about to run out the door when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror – my seemingly bomb hair looked like crap. Shoot! I then had to fix it and get myself together before finally arriving to work a couple minutes late.
When I got to church I had to get something out of the Fun Factor room. The Fun Factor room is the room that houses all of our kids games, etc. With that being said, it’s also the room that is forever messy and where things go to never be found again. I’d spent many adays cleaning out and organizing the room over the summer and was hoping that it had stayed that way. When I walked in I left the lights off (it was still only 7:10am and too early for my eyes) and immediately thought to myself “oh my gosh yes! It stayed organized!” I then turned on the lights, having learned from my pants situation, to find whatever I was looking for. The moment I turned the lights on I thought to myself “wow, I wish I’d left the lights off”. The room was a disaster and nothing was in its place.
In that moment Papa so clearly spoke to me and said this:
Live in the light, because as you live in the dark your understanding of “good” changes
Shooooot.
In the dark my eyes adjusted. I thought I could see, I thought my hair looked great, I thought the fun factor room was organized, but it was in the light that the sad truth of it was revealed.
In Luke 11:35 Jesus says “Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness”.
Friends, this was such a good reminder for me. So often we think we’re doing good. We look out into the world and think “wow, I’m doing really good compared to the world around me”, and while that might be true, that can’t be our goal. To live like that is to live with your eyes, and your understanding of good, adjusted to the darkness. Instead, God calls us to live in the light, in fact He calls us children of the light (Ephesians 5:9), and says that WE are the lights of the world (Matthew 5:14)!
He’s called us to live a life of goodness, true goodness, in the light – in Him. Ask Him to show you what that means in your life. Ask Him to show you the areas of your life where the lights need to be turned on. He loves you and He is so excited to do it.
So one more time, meditate on what this looks like for you:
Live in the light, because as you live in the dark your understanding of “good” changes
