Shadowless

Have you ever thought about what it means that Jesus is the light of the world?  John 1:4-5 says, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."  Jesus came into a world of sin and death; of darkness; of shadows.  We are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God, and in our fallen state we try to hide ourselves from God Almighty.  We don't want him to see the mess we've made of our lives so we make feeble attempts at covering ourselves and our shame, though little good it does us.

Enter Christ.  The light of the world.  Where the light shines, darkness cannot hide.  There are no shadows where Christ dwells.  The beauty of God is that he knows your sin and he still wants a relationship with you.  There is no use hiding from God.  He is everywhere and is all-knowing.  He is, as Hagar said in Genesis, "The God who sees me."

It's a little disconcerting at first, the idea that my sin is laid bare before a holy God.  But then I rest in his love knowing that, through Christ, I am made righteous, and all my sins have been atoned for through his death on the cross.  How glorious a truth this is!  When we confess that Christ is our savior, his righteousness (or rightness before God) is imputed to us as well.  Nothing we do can earn this kind of gift, but God bestows it upon us freely when we are willing to confess that we are in dire need of a savior, and Jesus is the only one who can do it.

"If I say, 'Surely darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." (Psalm 139:11-12.)  It's is nothing short of miraculous that I serve a God who sees all my sin and shame, yet loves me anyway.  And with an extravagant love at that!