Day 78 - Into the Light
Scripture focus: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2 NIV
I confess - we are terrible at turning off lights before we go to bed. This bad habit eventually produces enough guilt to push us into compliance - and for a few nights we'll commit to our best intentions and compulsively run around switching off the lights on our way to bed. This never lasts. Soon, we're back to our sloppy light-leaving-on ways.
On the rare nights when our home is plunged into darkness, we've had a few accidents. Walking into walls, tripping over shoes, ramming toes into sharp corners of furniture that jumped into our paths - all sorts of consequences for living in darkness.
Isaiah 9 reminds us that walking in darkness is treacherous business; seeing a great light provides a sacred way out of our confusion. Obviously, we all know it's easier to walk in the light than the dark!
Today I want you to focus on a truth that is more subtle. We are created to walk.
"We are designed with a need to move forward. Without it our lives become only shadows of what they could have been. You can live without pursuing a dream, you can function without passion, but with each passing moment, your soul will become more and more anemic. Your soul longs to become, and you can try to ignore it, but soon you will find yourself hating your life and despising everyone who refuses to give up on his or her dreams. Our intrinsic need for progress can be seen from our earliest dreams and childhood longings. We humans are instinctively ambitious our dreams naturally gravitate toward greatness." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 3, Destiny.
Frankly, I think we're confused and walking in darkness when we believe that part of coming to believe requires that we check our passion at the door of the church. God made us passionate, lusty, and adventuresome. But this passion must be lived in the light.
The light guides us along the path of our grand epic adventure.
Without the light, we still live with a compulsion to walk. We crave purpose and passion and fulfillment. However, without the guidance of a well-lit path, we walk in darkness AND end up walking into walls, tripping over shoes, ramming toes into sharp corners - and all sorts of dark-dwelling crises.
Our urge to walk is not the problem; our willingness to settle for living in the darkness is not only a problem, it is a potentially fatal error.
May the dawn of the light of God wash your life today with color and clarity.
Recommended reading: Numbers 27 and 28 in the morning; Luke 3 and Psalm 61 in the evening
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