3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Psalm 98:4, KJV
Table of Contents
At the Speed of Light
Jesus said, “Let there be Light.” 1 At the speed of light, perhaps faster, the expanse became illuminated. This God-breathed light filled the measure of God’s creation. It filled and wrapped every created thing in God’s glory. And, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”2 It reflects and refracts as it plays over every surface, revealing the full spectrum of color.
By God’s light, we perceive creation all around us. We are told, since the creation of the world, of God’s invisible qualities, eternal power, and divine nature have been seen and understood by all people.3 Consequently, no one can deny what God has made clear.
There is so much more to God’s light. At its pinnacle, it is like diamonds, a precious jewel. It shines into the hearts of all who believe. It reflects and refracts as it plays over the soul of men and illuminates the promise of eternal life. 4 The words, let there be light illuminate us all.
Photography, Using Light to Share Jesus
I use my photography to meet and speak with people about Jesus. A man came out of his shop and watched me make this image. He couldn’t imagine why I was kneeling on the frozen street to photograph the side of a car. He didn’t understand I was documenting evidence that God said, let there be light.
I had an opportunity to revisit the shop and speak again to the owner. He remembered watching me photograph the door of a random car. I showed him this image and he saw something he had missed before. We spoke of the God-given light that helps us to see and appreciate the world and the beauty around us. Taking it one step further, I spoke of the light of Christ that can enter the heart of a man. I spoke of how it makes a man new in every way5. We spoke of the assurance one can have of his salvation and eternal life. All this is made possible when God’s light sinks deep.6
Finally, I suggested that we lunch together and explore the glorious wonder of God. He didn’t agree to lunch. He didn’t refuse either. I will be back and God will do what He does best.
A New Creation
Until a man has experienced the infilling of God’s light and spirit, he will never comprehend its wonders. He will never know what he doesn’t know. But if he will, he can trust that when God said, “Let there be light,” he was thinking of us all, him included.
I can’t speak for other men, but I do speak for myself. When I reflect on the man I once was, it is hard to believe I could have been that wretch. I was up to his ears in political foolishness. The old me may have given lip service to God’s power to save our nation and world. In truth, I preferred the answers I saw in arms, political office, and resistance. Even worse, I clung to the Mormon myth that the United States Constitution would hang by a thread and be rescued by the Mormon priesthood.
Having been made new in Jesus, I look at my old self and wonder. I can’t deny that I was who I was. I also can’t imagine that I had been that misguided and angry man. He, that old man, is a stranger to me.
Sharing the Light
The hardest part of sharing the gospel with a mostly unknowing world is people’s inability to perceive light.
Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Matthew 13:13, KJV
How do we help a man desire what he does not know, has not heard, and cannot comprehend? This is the question that haunts every saved Christian. In the end, the answer is found in God Himself. Romans teaches that every man has seen undeniable evidence of God.7 Because of their blindness, they may suppress the truth in unrighteousness for a time.8
So we share the glorious news first. Then we wait and pray for the day when a man or woman will respond to the promise and testimony of God. In that hour, the old becomes new. In that newness, vision, once obscured, becomes clear. In that hour, a new creation rises with Christ and lives in Him. That is when God will again say, “let there be light”. But this time will be different because that light gathers, forms, and settles in a new heart.
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