Darkness vs. Light

I am a light and sensitive sleeper. And when I was younger, I used to be scared of the dark. Even though I encounter more obstacles with being able to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night on a daily basis rather than a childhood fear of darkness, the prevalence of this fear struck me in not only the reality of the world in 2020, but also in the spiritual realm and warfare that the Bible mentions over and over again.

I've been meditating and reflecting on this passage from Romans 13 each morning over the last couple weeks and it has been a daily reminder of God's commands and the hope He speaks over all the days He has graciously given me:

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,' and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (v. 8-14)

For me, this passage helped me see the command to "Love your neighbour as yourself" in a redefined way; each new day is a generous opportunity from God to display His loving affection onto ourselves and to those around us. We are called to awaken our heart, soul, mind, and body to the brokenness of the world and ready ourselves with our armour, having Jesus at the forefront of our being. When the magnitude of our sinful nature seems to loom so greatly, we need to be persistent in reminding ourselves that the light of Christ truly eliminates our "deeds of darkness". So even when the temptation is strong to let a cloudy day get the best of you, to when the news robs us of hope or the struggle to get out of bed is too real, God still calls us to actively live out His commands "understanding the present time".

Paralleling with my thoughts, listening to one of Chris Tomlin's recent new songs, "Be The Moon", the chorus resonates the cry of shining for God's glory:

I wanna be the moon, up among the stars

Fly around the world, lighting up the dark of night

I'm nothing without the Son's amazing grace on everything I do

If you're shining on me, I'm shining right back for you

I wanna be the moon

As odd as it may sound to tell others that I would aspire to be the moon in the sky at night, Chris Tomlin describes it as such: "The moon is not striving to be anything, it just puts itself in the right place and reflects the light of the sun. It's the same for us, we have no light of our own but reflect a greater light, the light of God". I have been moved to pray with a new sense of dependency and desperation for God to illumine every able part of me to not only see Him, but to believe in Him, encourage others in the faith in the midst of darkness, and come alongside non-believers so that they can experience the greatness of God’s light.

So on particular mornings when I wake up with no sunlight coming through the windows, no positive feelings after an unfulfilling dream, no rest after a sleepless night, or no motivation to start a new day, I know that rather than relying on the sun in the sky to bring me joy, I can be assured that God has given me His Son to shine brightly in, through, and for me, no matter what.