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It was not coincidental or by accident that God orchestrated things as He did when He created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1 provides us with this information about creation: “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day” (verses 3-5, New International Version).

As I age and the wear and tear of decades of life takes its toll on my body, my eyes experience the effects of the aging process. I am indeed thankful that I can see well enough to do whatever I need to do, yet the assistance of glasses is often required and the availability of adequate lighting is more valuable to me than ever before. Sometimes I see objects up ahead that appear to be some type of animal, only to get closer to find that it was something totally different. (One morning as I traveled to the office I noticed a car parked facing traffic that looked like a patrol car. When I got to it I discovered I was right that time; a bit later when I looked in my rearview mirror I saw what appeared to be blue lights, and I was right again—that is all I will say about that!)

Some time ago we replaced the lights in the church sanctuary to brighten things up a bit. We successfully achieved that goal; it is certainly nice to be able to see more clearly with the illumination the new lights provide. But I also noticed that the enhanced lighting revealed some flaws on the ceiling that I had not noticed. There were some obvious spots that I knew needed to be addressed, but the extra light exposed even more of them. That is a good reminder that sufficient light sometimes exposes things that we would rather not see and it reveals things that would otherwise be overlooked and not corrected.

It is important that we never forget that putting something in the dark where it is not seen by others does not make it go away; it is still there and still has to be dealt with. Hidden sins will one day be brought to light by God’s judgment. Luke 12:2 reminds us that “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” Christ hits even harder in the next verse: “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” In commenting on this section of Scripture, Chuck Swindoll explains that “In the present world order, secrets and dark corners conceal sin and give cover to evil intentions. When the kingdom of God comes, however, everything will be exposed to the light of divine truth.” He goes on to say, “If one lives the life of a phony, it will become known.” How painfully true!

If we stopped there, God’s light might sound negative, but it is not. His reason for exposing our sin now is for the purpose of prompting us to get things right with Him while there is still opportunity. He calls us to walk in the light of His ways so we can be found pleasing to Him. The Bible says, “But if we walk in the light, as He is the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

God’s light is powerful. Walk in it daily!