Lent Day Twenty One
“Ephesians 5:8–17 The Passion Translation ”
Taken from The Passion Translation
8 Once your life was full of sin’s darkness, but now you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with him. Your mission is to live as children flooded with his revelation-light!
9 And the supernatural fruits of his light will be seen in you—goodness, righteousness, and truth.
10 In this revelation-light, you will learn to choose what is beautiful to our Lord.
11 And don’t even associate with the servants of darkness because they have no fruit in them; instead, reveal truth to them.
12 The very things they do in secret are too vile and filthy to even mention.
13 Whatever the revelation-light exposes, it will also correct, and everything that reveals truth is light to the soul.
14 This is why the Scripture says, “Arise, you sleeper! Rise up from the dead and the Anointed One will shine his light into you!”
15–16 Don’t live foolishly as those with no understanding, but live honorably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes.
17 And then you will have discernment to fully understand God’s will.
I love the soft glow of candles and fairy lights - it sets the mood for a cosy night in, plus it hides a multitude of cleaning fails! My daughter was permitted to eat a popadom in the lounge last night (reckless decision by her dad - not a chance on my watch!) which means there’s popadom shards all over the sofa and carpet. Thankfully, my candlelight covers these indiscretions.
Being a northern lass, I’m a fan of Peter Kay and love his sketch involving the ‘big light’. ‘Put the big light on - nan’s doing a crossword!’. The big light is the brightest light in the house, bringing illumination better than any other. When I read this passage from Ephesians, I was reminded of how we should live as followers of Jesus - ‘flooded with God’s revelation light’ (v8). I believe we should aim to live our lives with the big light on so to speak - living lives that flood our families and communities with the bright light of his goodness, truth, kindness, compassion and love.
This ‘big light’ living means we live with openness, honesty, vulnerability and integrity. ‘Big light living’ is scary as it means our imperfections as well as our attributes are on show. When the big light is on in our lives, there’s no candlelight to cover our flaws. In a world where people are increasingly spotlighting their areas of perfection, (especially on social media) - it’s not easy to be in the big light brigade. It requires acceptance that ourselves and our lives are not perfect, and the courage to live a life that reflects the reality of that, rather than choosing to mask our imperfections with candlelight. Big light living is one of courage and rawness, where the authenticity of the light of our life will draw people to us and ultimately to Jesus. As this passage from Ephesians says, though we were full of sin and darkness, we now have God’s light shining through us (v8). Jesus’ death on Good Friday means that sin and darkness no longer have power over us. Because of this we can choose to live in the light as his people who are secure in him, loved and free, not needing to live with any pretence or hiding in the shadows.
We may well feel unworthy or fearful of this ’big light’ calling, but as a believer, be confident that, ‘you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with him’ (v8) - so get that big light on and get out there and shine!
Kate Williams
Kate Williams is a Yorkshire based writer and speaker. She is in her happy place when she is typing away in a coffee shop with a one shot latte and a caramel shortbread. Kate also loves British Sign Language, and currently works as a communication support worker with deaf students. Kate enjoys writing devotional plans for the Youversion Bible app.