The Stage Light of God; First John

May the mumbling commence!

From darkness to light – that is the Way things develop with the Light of the world – Jesus the Christ.  Stories resonate with me.  Stories are powerful to the human soul.  Music is powerful.  When we combine storytelling and music, the effect can be phenomenal…

And I have been infected with the faith of Jesus.  I have been infected with the passion of stage.  When these two things dovetail, it is most blessed to my soul.

Then, I think of the pattern of darkness to light.  When I think of the stage, I think about the movement between the darkness of backstage to the flood of lights as I move into the stage lights.  It is quite a contrast – kind of like the opposite of walking inside from a snowy sunlit day.  It can be blinding at first.

But the light reveals who you are – for all the audience, for the entire world to see.  It can be painful, but it can also be freeing.  There is no more need to hide behind an empty façade.

And the stage gives us the opportunity to be different from ourselves.  We get to try on new characters – new characters that can reveal more about ourselves and the people who watch.  Taking on new characters and making new discoveries about ourselves can be a life giving experience.

As Christians, we are called to take on the character of Jesus.  Yes, all people baptized into the faith of Jesus are called to take on the character of Jesus.  We are to live as he lived.  We are to shun the darkness and the activities that accompany it. 

Instead, we are to walk boldly into the light.  We are to be obedient to God.  And we are to love – sacrificially and completely.

It is a tall order.  When we work together, we have a greater chance to reveal Christ to others through our lives together as Christians.  It is to be set apart from the world – to be holy unto God.  It means being different – not just to be different but to be totally obedient to our Creator.

So, which do we choose – the light Christ or the darkness?  Do we choose the true light of Christ or the facsimile that Satan tries to tempt us with?  They are important questions.  Read from First John chapter one in the New King James version:

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (Verses 5-10)

Living in the light is painful because in reveals that we sin.  We do not completely obey our Lord.  To deny this fact is to deceive only ourselves.  Rarely can we fool other people, but we can NEVER fool God.

Confess the sins in your life.  Let us confess the sins that we share corporately as the body of Christ.  The known sin is the one that we can confront and defeat.  As we name our sin, we drain the sin of much of the power that it has.

And let us confess the power of Jesus’ blood to cleanse us from our sins…  Let us confess the faithfulness of God to forgive us.  This confession is as important as the first one we talked about.

Let us boldly enter the stage of life and walk into the Stage Light of God – Jesus Christ.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out