[1 John Series 2] Real Life Walks In The LightSample

God is light

One of the themes found throughout Scripture is that God is light. Jesus said in the New Testament, “I am the light of the world.” In Matthew, in the transfiguration, Jesus’ face shone bright like the noonday sun. And again when Christ talked to John in Revelation, His face shone like the sun.

In the Bible, we see a contrast shown between light and darkness. Darkness is evil and light is good. We can see this contrast in the way we talk about different things. If we see a movie and it is a dark one, it means there’s likely some evil in it. But if it is a light movie then that means it will have some goodness in it. God is light and His primary attribute is holiness. God’s holiness is linked to His light. He’s bright. He’s pure. He’s without any blemish, without any darkness, without any smudge. His character is impeccable and perfect. He has never thought about doing anything wrong. His glory and His light are intrinsic to who He is.

How do you make water wet? Water is intrinsically wet. How do you make the sky blue? The sky is intrinsically blue. How do you make the sun light? Light is intrinsic to the sun. In the same way, God’s glory and His light and His holiness are intrinsic to who He is. It is not just something He does.

That’s different from us. Our glory is granted. It is not intrinsic. Think of a king who has a big robe, a scepter, and a golden crown. What would happen if you take the scepter, the robe, and the crown away, and you don’t let this king bathe for a month, and you set him under a bridge next to a homeless person? He’ll look exactly the same as the homeless person at the end of the month—because his glory is granted, not intrinsic. You can take it away and he is just like any other person. The more we know about who God is, the more we will understand about who we are and how to journey on this path. 

That doesn’t mean you are going to have a perfect life. You will have to go through trials, judgment, discipline, and the consequences of sin. But, whenever you get the suspicion, “God is doing something mean or evil,” you can dismiss it because you know everything God does is from a heart of light.