Lenten Reader | Day 8

February 25th, 2021

Light

“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

-Luke 11:33-36

Today’s passage reminds us to focus on the light of Christ. As I reflect on this passage, I am drawn to “[w]hen your eyes are healthy…” What does it mean to have healthy eyes? Healthy eyes are able to see light that is reflected off objects. Isn’t Jesus asking us to have “healthy eyes” by focusing on what is true, pure and lovely as Philippians 4:8 tells us? When we do, darkness from other objects is removed and the “whole body is full of light.”

I recall going on a drive at night with my sister and her boyfriend. For whatever reason they thought it would be a good idea to let me drive the backroads near our house. I might have been 12, so I was more than eager and slid right into the driver’s seat. As we were driving at who knows what speed, I recall an oncoming car whose headlights were blinding - I couldn’t see the road or the ditch. What saved us was my sister’s boyfriend who took the wheel until the car passed.

Much in the same way that car’s headlights removed everything else out of my view, the light of Christ has the power to expel impurity in our lives. When we are focused on the light of Christ, then the darkness of the world can be displaced and cleansed from our lives. If we simply look to Him, we can begin to purify our hearts from unrighteousness and sin. Let His light cleanse every dark corner of our lives.

Pray the lyrics of Refiner’s Fire by Brian Doerksen:
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold

Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will

Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within and make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin, deep within

-Brady Miller