Shine

vs. 4 "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."  vs. 6  "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  (2 Corinthians 4:4,6 KJV)

What brought me to God?  What led me to repentance; turning away from the darkness and fully walking in His light?  What caused me to surrender to Him? 

It wasn't:

Someone telling me to live right.
Attending church.
Following some set of rules.
Condemnation.
Guilt.
Shame.
A book on 10 steps to salvation.
Someone's opinion.

It was the love, kindness, and relentless pursuit of God. It was me being crushed in the crucible of my own brokenness and sin until the grace of God poured out of my cries for help.  It was in loss so deep I thought I would never find my way out.  It was in people walking away and in people staying, even when they knew the depths of the darkness I had touched.  It was in heartache and healing.  It was in a thousand detours, a thousand missed opportunities, a thousand closed doors.  It was falling down and failing until I found the end of myself and looked up to see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 

Just as God spoke in the beginning of creation and light shined into the expanse of darkness and dispelled it, so God spoke into the depths of my heart, "Let there be Light!" and the filth of my darkened life without Him was dispelled.  I saw His face...not the ground where I saw only the dirt of the life I had lived, not those around me pointing fingers, not my mistakes and failures that so condemned me, not the enemy of my soul who kept calling me back into the darkness...but His face.  And He didn't turn away.  He didn't look down ashamed of me.  He didn't look up avoiding my eyes.  He looked at me with such love, such compassion, such care.  "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God" washed over me and into me like a mighty flood as I beheld His face. I haven't been the same since.  

His light exposed the depth of my darkness, it pierced through all my clouded thoughts, and illuminated every hiding place I had made.  His love brought me to repentance.  And true repentance changes you from the inside out.  You turn from everything that is not from Him, by Him, and through Him, not because you are condemned but because you are constrained.  You have seen His face as God in man coming in the person of Jesus Christ.  You have seen His face on the Cross, marred, bloody, bruised, not because of anything He did but because of what you did.  You have seen His face forgiving, kind, loving.  You have seen His face risen from the dead, alive, and reigning forevermore.  You have seen His face every time you are on your knees in prayer, basking in His presence.  Once you have truly seen Him your heart longs to see Him more and more.  In Psalm 27:8 we read, "When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”  Revelation 22:4 says, "They shall see His face..."  

Where is your gaze today?  Are you looking at your circumstances?  Are you looking at an illness?  A loss?  Your problems?  This chaotic world we are currently living in?  This election?  Other people?  Family issues?  Your finances?  

There are many places we can look, but only one place we can truly see.


                                                                    There Is A Light

There is a Light that casts out darkness
The confusion that twists
There is a Light that envelopes
Sweet untamable bliss

There is a Light penetrating the secret
No place left to hide
There is a Light that surrounds
New birth for all that's died

There is a Light like a beacon
Hope of a distant shore
There is a Light that cascades
Where fear exists no more

There is a Light that mends
He speaks the word, 'Restore'
There is a Light that opens up
Where peace reigns forevermore

There is a Light that erases
Guilt and shame renamed
There is a Light that transforms
You will never be the same

There is a Light darkness can't withstand
Unspeakable joyful mirth
There is a Light that has a name
Jesus: He of matchless worth

He is the Light that never fades
Eternal everlasting day
He is the True Light shining
He is the One and Only Way

Bend your knees in true repentance
Turn from all that darkness has erased
Give your heart in full surrender
Let the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God
                                                                              be found in Jesus' face...




Written by Anne Marie Hawke
October 2020

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