I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called – his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance (Ephesians 1:18).
Ever walk into a store and notice the background music? How about the lights or the smell or the general vibe of the place? My daughter and I regularly hangout at Panera Bread. The music is low key and the place smells of freshly baked bread. It’s got a laid back, bright and welcome feel. Those are probably a few reasons we like to go in the morning; though, it also might have something to do with my daughter’s affinity for avocado and toast and my Unlimited Sip Club membership.
One morning I was in Walmart picking up a few things for the office when I noticed that all of the televisions were displaying a simple message: Sensory-friendly hours . . . During these hours, you can expect a calmer shopping experience. I had been so reoccupied with the items I needed to purchase that I hadn’t noticed the lack of music playing over the ceiling speakers. The store was silent and it did feel calm. Shoppers pleasantly rolled their carts in ease. The warehouse design felt less so until I noticed the rows upon rows of florescent lights overhead that shone unnatural, as if indifferent to the eyeballs of the employees and customers of Walmart, lavishing attention to extenuate and showcase hundreds of products and their designs for our hard earned money.
Light is important to not only show what is presently in hand but also what may soon be had. Often, light in the Bible represents realization. Think of Willie Coyote having a light bulb moment when he’s puzzling out how to catch his eternally allusive supper, Road Runner (of course Willie’s light bulb moments never lead to a successful hunt). In the above Ephesians passage, the Apostle Paul uses the Greek word phōtizō (translated in the NLT as ‘light’) which can mean to shine or illuminate or enlighten or even to render evident. We find it again in a teaching from Jesus in Luke 11:34-36:
Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is unhealthy, your body is filled with darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.
Jonah is a great example of someone with darkened eyes and thus a darkened body. God calls Jonah to the supernatural task of loving his enemies, which he is not inclined to do and ends up awash in a storm, overboard and fish food. It’s not till he’s at his lowest and darkest point that Jonah is able to see the light. He says, “As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord” (2:7). While in the guts of a fish it dawned on the unwilling prophet that he’s in need of saving like everyone and that he is truly loved by God. Once upon dry ground, Jonah heads in the right direction and follows the call to love his enemies. He witnesses first hand the mercy of God for others and this sends Jonah into a defiant spirit of despair. The short prophetic book ends unresolved and with a question rather than an answer, implying that realization is something experienced and discovered in a relationship with God.
When I was younger, my friends and I would stay up to all hours of the night, hanging out, playing video games, watching movies, and doing the typical stuff teenagers did in those days. One night we decided to play with a frisbee around 1am. We quietly went out back (my friend lived just outside of town and had acres of lawn) and spread out about twenty feet from one another. It’s one thing to throw a frisbee and guess where someone might be. It’s another thing to try and catch it when it suddenly appears a few feet from your face.
Without God providing understanding and realization, we will always feel as if we’re trying to catch the impossible. In such circumstances, confidence and hope are often lacking. May Ephesians 1:8 be a constant prayer for us as we look ahead into the fall season. He is faithful. Jesus can lovingly illuminate matters of the heart, aiding in our growth and confidence in Him and giving hope for tomorrow. And remember, we are “his holy people” and we are “his rich and glorious inheritance”.
Blessings,
Pastor Aaron