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DiscipleshipSoul Care

Reaching for the Light

By July 16, 2015June 16th, 2016No Comments

IMG_1415After placing a new plant under a lamp in our den, I noticed that it looked different during the day than at night, as you can see in the pictures. When the lamp is off in the morning and afternoon, the only source of light is the adjacent window. At that time the plant appears to be lying almost flat. It looks so IMG_1416different at night when it stands almost upright, looking as it it is reaching for the light emitted by the lamp.

Jesus is our light (John 1:4-5, 8: 8:12; 1 John 1:9).* To thrive, we rely on him in the way that plants depend on a light source. It’s a beautiful and understandable picture of our need for God.

If this is true, that we need God as much as plants need light for survival, why do we not reach up to grab every ray that we can consume?

If you and I really paid attention to where we search for sustenance day in and day out, what would we find? Are we reaching up as hard as we can in desperation for God or do we reach for other people, answers online from experts, or possibly into our own wisdom and self-confidence? Do we only reach for God when all else fails?

Too often I get desperate for God only when life gets messy and hard–a very convicting reality!

God, help me look to you as my plant does the lamp, with my arms reaching toward every bit of light that I can possibly get. Use the sun and my own plants as reminders to draw my attention upward to Jesus, the source of true life.

 

*The Bible pictures God as light throughout Scripture. Note Ps. 84:11; Is. 27:1; 42:6-7; 49:6; 60:19; John 8:12; Rev. 21:23.

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